By 8-1, the justices ruled that the First Amendment prohibits states from using their licensing power to stop therapists and other professionals from sharing views with patients.
By Catholics for Catholics
States cannot forbid so-called conversion therapy, intended at changing a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity, the Supreme Court has ruled.
On Tuesday the justices ruled, 8-1, that the First Amendment bars states from using their licensing power to limit the topics therapists and other professionals can discuss with their clients, according to a story by Newsmax.
Effectively, the Supreme Court ruled against the law banning “conversion therapy” for alleged LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the discredited practice.
🚨 In an 8-1 vote, the Supreme Court holds that Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy,” as applied to petitioner's talk therapy, violates the First Amendment because it constitutes viewpoint discrimination pic.twitter.com/NkDo4Djsb6
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) March 31, 2026
The 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who contends the law prohibiting talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The judges concurred that the law produces free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.
Kaley Chiles, a counselor, with the aid of President Donald Trump’s administration, said the law wrongly obstructs her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy for kids.
Chiles argued that her approach differs from “conversion therapy” practices from decades ago, like shock therapy. Her attorneys said that the ban makes it hard for parents to find therapists willing to talk about gender identity with kids unless the counseling affirms transition.
The state of Colorado countered, saying its law does permit wide-ranging conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation and exempts religious ministries. The state says the measure simply bars using therapy to try to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations.
Writing for the court, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint.” He wrote that the First Amendment “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
But Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson refuted in a lone dissent saying that states should be free to set healthcare, even if that means resultant restrictions on speech. The decision, Jackson wrote, “opens a dangerous can of worms” that “threatens to impair states’ ability to regulate the provision of medical care in any respect.”
Nancy Charles, a Detransitioner who spoke at Catholics for Catholics Prayer for America Gala in 2025, helped the case with her powerful conversion story.
SCOTUS VICTORY: @cancelwok3 conversion from LGTBQ lifestyle to Christ helps with Chiles v. Salazar case showing Colorado's unconstitutional ban on conversion therapy for minors. @USAYep https://t.co/fcO8FfYBgR pic.twitter.com/8kdX11yQWj
— Catholics for Catholics 🇺🇲 (@CforCatholics) April 1, 2026
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