Supreme Court Rules Against Colorado’s ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban

A sign restricting access to the grounds of the U.S. Supreme Court building can be seen on a barrier in Washington on March 31, 2026. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

 

 

 

The term conversion therapy is horrible, truly horrible, as is every term, word, and definition the world attaches to anything of God, or of sin. Sharing the true gospel, spreading the truth of the consequences of sin, of heaven and hell, of Jesus and what is required to be saved, to follow Jesus, to believe and abide in the ways of Scripture to the lost, is what truly offends the servants of Satan, those who are opposed to anything of God, the Holy Bible and truth, those opposed to the horribly labeled conversion therapy — they don’t really care about the individual, other than to shield a lost sinner from the LORD and His truth keeping them in sin, in bondage, and away from hope, true life, salvation by faith in Christ and obedience to Him.

At least the U.S. Supreme Court got it right this time. Let us pray that those on the court are convicted within their spirits, their minds by the Holy Spirit to think, meditate, speak, and write on behalf of the truth for which this nation was founded, remaining firmly loyal to our founding documents, and America’s Judeo-Christian values and beginnings.

Here’s something to get and read just in time for America’s upcoming birthday:

Celebrating God, Our Founder, at America’s 250th Birthday: By Cynthia Scott

And let’s truly be light and salt, and let it begin with taking the time to speak and write clearly, factually, fearlessly, truthfully, aligned with the whole Word of God, being more mindful of offending God than offending a person, a group, what have you.

Let’s learn and understand our real history. Let us learn and understand the true meaning of walking with Christ, being indwelt of the Holy Spirit, bearing good fruit, as ambassadors of the King of kings, Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiac.

Read on…

Ken Pullen, Wednesday, April 1st, 2026

 

 

Supreme Court Rules Against Colorado’s ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban

 

The case was brought by a therapist who alleged that Colorado’s ban violated her right to free expression.

 

4/1/2026

By Sam Dorman & Matthew Vadum

Reprinted from The Epoch Times

 

The Supreme Court on March 31 ruled against a Colorado ban on so-called conversion therapy for LGBT youth.

In an 8–1 decision, the justices said a lower court failed to properly analyze whether the Colorado law violated the First Amendment. The court’s majority opinion was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Two of the court’s three liberal justices joined the majority opinion.

The Colorado law “censors speech based on viewpoint,” Gorsuch said, and “Colorado may regard its policy as essential to public health and safety.”

“Certainly, censorious governments throughout history have believed the same,“ he said. ”But the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.

“It reflects instead a judgment that every American possesses an inalienable right to think and speak freely, and a faith in the free marketplace of ideas as the best means for discovering truth.”

The sole dissenter was Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who said the “fallout” from the new ruling could be “catastrophic.” She said her colleagues failed to consider “the potential long-term and disastrous implications of this ruling.”

Jackson said Colorado’s law was “based on the medical profession’s broad consensus that this medical treatment (which seeks to change a gay or transgender person’s sexual orientation or gender identity) is ineffective and harmful.”

“Ultimately, because the majority plays with fire in this case, I fear that the people of this country will get burned,” she said.

The case, Chiles v. Salazar, was brought by therapist Kaley Chiles, who said Colorado’s law unconstitutionally infringed on her ability to help minors struggling with gender dysphoria and unwanted same-sex attraction.

Conversion therapy, according to WebMD, is “any emotional or physical therapy used to ‘cure’ or ‘repair’ a person’s attraction to the same sex, or their gender identity and expression.”

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia ban conversion therapy for minors, according to a report by the Movement Advancement Project.

Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law allows officials to take away the licenses of health care professionals who are determined to have offered conversion therapy to minors.

Upon conviction, offenders can also be fined as much as $5,000.

The law prohibits licensed therapists from attempting to “change an individual’s sexual orientation, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
Chiles argued that the law banning conversion therapy encourages young people to change their sexual orientation or gender identity away from the heterosexual norm and prohibits the provision of counseling for same-sex desires or identification with the opposite gender.
A federal court previously declined to block the law, stating that Colorado was regulating professional conduct rather than constitutionally protected speech.

Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado said children are “entitled to a state’s protection from therapeutic modalities that have been shown to cause longstanding psychological and physical damage.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld the Colorado law “as a regulation of Chiles’s conduct, not speech.”

Justice Elena Kagan filed a concurring opinion, which Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined.

Kagan said she agreed that the Colorado law, “as applied to talk therapy, conflicts with core First Amendment principles because it regulates speech based on viewpoint.”

“A law drawing a line based on the ‘ideology’ of the speaker—disadvantaging one view and advantaging another—skews the marketplace of ideas our society depends on to discover truth,” Kagan said.

“If the First Amendment prohibits anything, it is the ‘official suppression of ideas.’”

The Supreme Court reversed the 10th Circuit decision and remanded the case “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Chiles’s attorney, Jim Campbell of Alliance Defending Freedom, said the Supreme Court’s ruling in his client’s case, which was based on her engaging in “voluntary conversations,” will lead to similar laws in other states being struck down.

“[The court said] laws like these that discriminate based on viewpoint, single out a particular perspective for silencing, that those laws have to be subject to the highest, highest First Amendment scrutiny,” he said during a teleconference after the ruling.

“And so that’s going to apply to every single one of these laws around the country.

“And the one thing we know is that whenever a court has applied that kind of heightened scrutiny to one of these laws, it has struck it down.”

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said the high court’s decision was “a setback for Colorado’s efforts to protect children and families from harmful and discredited mental health practices.”

“For generations, states have set and enforced standards to ensure that licensed professionals provide safe and appropriate care,“ Weiser said in a statement. ”We strongly disagree with the court’s reasoning.

“[Conversion therapy is] a practice that every major medical and mental health association in the country has rejected as unsafe and ineffective.”

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Supreme Court Rejects Colorado’s ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban As Unconstitutional