In an 8-1 ruling today, the Supreme Court struck down a 2019 Colorado law banning so-called “conversion therapy,” marking a monumental victory for free speech and religious liberty.
The case, Chiles v. Salazar, centered on Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor who challenged Colorado’s law restricting what therapists may say to minor clients regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. At its core, the dispute was not about medical procedures or coercive practices, but about speech – specifically, whether the government can dictate what viewpoints a counselor is allowed to express in private conversations with willing clients.
Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch made clear that the Constitution does not permit that kind of censorship. Colorado’s law, he explained, “censors speech based on viewpoint,” which the Court has long considered one of the most egregious violations of the First Amendment.
The facts of the case expose just how far these laws go. Colorado’s statute prohibited licensed counselors from engaging in any conversation aimed at helping a minor reduce same-sex attraction or align their gender identity with their biological sex. But at the same time, it allowed counseling that affirmed a minor’s desire to transition. In other words, the state wasn’t banning a practice – it was privileging one viewpoint while outlawing another.
Chiles argued that she does not “convert” anyone, but instead helps clients pursue their own goals, including reducing unwanted attractions or finding comfort in their biological sex. Under Colorado’s law, however, even responding to a child’s expressed desire to do so could cost her license and livelihood.
Lower courts upheld the law by claiming it regulated professional conduct, not speech, and therefore only required minimal constitutional scrutiny. The Supreme Court rejected that reasoning outright. As Gorsuch emphasized, “the spoken word is perhaps the quintessential form of protected speech,” and that is exactly what Colorado sought to regulate.
More bluntly, the Court concluded that “Colorado does not regulate speech incident to conduct; it regulates ‘speech as speech.’”
That distinction is critical. If states can reclassify speech as “conduct” simply because it occurs in a professional setting, then the First Amendment becomes meaningless for doctors, counselors, lawyers, and countless other professionals. The Court instead held that strict scrutiny – the highest standard of constitutional review – must apply, a test that laws like Colorado’s almost never survive.
The majority also underscored the broader philosophical stakes. The First Amendment, Gorsuch wrote, reflects “a judgment that every American possesses an inalienable right to think and speak freely,” and any law that suppresses speech based on viewpoint represents an “egregious” assault on that principle.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter, arguing that states have long regulated medical professionals and warning that the ruling could limit that authority. But her position essentially boils down to the idea that once someone holds a professional license, the government can dictate what they are allowed to say – a view the majority decisively rejected.
Importantly, the Court’s ruling is somewhat narrow procedurally. It does not outright invalidate Colorado’s law but sends the case back to lower courts with instructions to apply strict scrutiny. However, the majority strongly signaled that the law is unlikely to survive that test.
The decision also leaves intact states’ authority to regulate actual medical procedures, such as surgeries or prescriptions. This case dealt specifically with talk therapy – voluntary conversations between counselors and clients – not physical interventions.
Still, the implications are enormous. More than 20 states have enacted similar “conversion therapy” bans, many of which function in precisely the same way as Colorado’s by allowing one set of ideas while criminalizing another. Today’s ruling puts all of those laws on shaky constitutional ground.
For years, supporters of these bans have framed them as necessary protections against abusive or coercive practices. But in reality, as this case makes clear, they often sweep far more broadly, criminalizing even basic conversations that affirm biological reality or help minors work through confusion about their identity.
That’s what makes this ruling such a significant victory. It reaffirms that the government cannot impose ideological orthodoxy, even in sensitive or politically charged areas. Parents, counselors, and individuals retain the right to speak freely and pursue the truth as they understand it without fear of state punishment.
At the same time, this is not the end of the fight. Conservatives will argue that the Court should go further and definitively strike down these laws nationwide, rather than leaving them to be litigated piecemeal in lower courts. Others will push for stronger protections for parental rights and for faith-based counseling practices that have come under increasing legal pressure.
But for now, the Supreme Court has delivered a decisive rebuke to one of the most aggressive forms of speech regulation in modern America. In doing so, it has reaffirmed the foundational principle that in a free society, the government does not get to decide which viewpoints are permissible and which must be silenced.
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