Plain-English summary
Court rules Colorado ban on conversion therapy targets speech and must face strict First Amendment review
The Court reversed the Tenth Circuit, holding that Colorado’s law banning so-called “conversion therapy,” as applied to a licensed counselor’s talk therapy grounded in religious beliefs, regulates speech based on viewpoint and requires strict First Amendment scrutiny. The case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with that standard.
Why this matters
The decision clarifies that laws banning conversion therapy can raise strong free-speech problems when they target the content or viewpoint of a counselor’s talk therapy. The ruling affects how states may regulate professional practices that involve speech and narrows some state power to prohibit certain counseling approaches — especially when those approaches are rooted in religious or viewpoint-based beliefs.
Who may feel it
- Licensed mental-health and counseling professionals
- Clients seeking counseling about gender identity or sexual orientation
- State regulators who license and discipline therapists
- Religious counselors and faith-based therapy providers
- Advocacy groups on both LGBTQ+ rights and religious-liberty grounds