Chiles v Salazar: The U.S. Supreme Court case on child conversion therapy

In March 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that they would hear a case on the topic of conversion therapy.

Here is what you need to know:

-          In this case, the justices will hear a challenge to a current Colorado state law. This law protects youth under the age of 18 from being subjected to conversion therapy by licensed mental health professionals. (the key word here being licensed).

-          Kaley Chiles, the petitioner, is a mental health counselor in Colorado claiming that this law infringes on her freedom of speech.

Previous cases:

-          The Supreme Court has, on multiple occasions, left lower court rulings on state-level conversion therapy bans in place by denying appeals. Most recently in 2023 with Tingley v Ferguson leaving the Ninth Circuit's decision upholding the law intact.

-          However, in a dissenting opinion, three conservative justices (Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh) indicated that they would have heard the case. Since we are hearing this case now, this means they have gotten a fourth person to agree with them.

Conversion “Therapy”

-          It refers to practices that seek to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

-          There has historically be a lack of standards or basis in evidence for conversion therapy due to discredited psychoanalytic theories such as the claim that being gay is “caused” by faulty parenting, trauma, or abuse.

-          In the past, these practices involved behavior modification and painful aversive treatments.

So, what does the law actually say?

-          Importantly, Colorado’s is similar to laws in more than 20 other states. Meaning that there are precedents and standards already in place and accepted.

-          This law only applies to state licensed mental health professionals. This is relevant because educational standards and ethical guidelines are already a requirement for state licensure, including the use of evidence-based practices.

The potential for harm

-          Let’s be honest, this law truly isn’t restrictive enough. Non-licensed religious counselors are protected by laws of religious freedom meaning that there will be children who are told their sexual identity can be “cured.”

-          The Trevor Project published a journal article reporting that “LGBTQ youth who underwent conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to report having attempted suicide and more than 2.5 times as likely to report multiple suicide attempts in the past year…”

What’s next

-          If Colorado’s law is upheld, a state’s legal authority to regulate healthcare will be maintained.

-          If overturned, we are jeopardizing the safety and well-being of minors leaving room for unknown amounts of harm in the future.