Therapy

The U.S. Supreme Court on October 7, 2025, appeared open to a challenge against Colorado’s 2019 law banning licensed psychotherapists from performing “conversion therapy” for minors—a law that prohibits attempts to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The dispute reached the high court via a First Amendment claim brought by Christian counselor Kaley Chiles, who argues the statute unlawfully restricts her speech rights.

In oral argument, conservative justices probed whether Colorado’s law amounts to viewpoint discrimination by permitting affirming therapy but forbidding counseling aimed at reducing same-sex attraction or changing gender identity. Colorado’s defenders, however, maintain the …