* Latest
        + U.S.
        + Government Shutdown
        + Bondi Hearing
        + World
        + Politics
        + Entertainment
        + HealthWatch
        + MoneyWatch
        + Crime
        + Space
        + Sports
        + Brand Studio
    * Local News
        + Atlanta
        + Baltimore
        + Bay Area
        + Boston
        + Chicago
        + Colorado
        + Detroit
        + Los Angeles
        + Miami
        + Minnesota
        + New York
        + Philadelphia
        + Pittsburgh
        + Sacramento
        + Texas
    * Live
        + CBS News 24/7
        + Baltimore
        + Bay Area
        + Boston
        + Chicago
        + Colorado
        + Detroit
        + Los Angeles
        + Miami
        + Minnesota
        + New York
        + Philadelphia
        + Pittsburgh
        + Sacramento
        + Texas
        + 48 Hours
        + 60 Minutes
    * Shows
        + 48 Hours
        + 60 Minutes
        + CBS Evening News
        + CBS Mornings
        + CBS Morning News
        + CBS Reports
        + CBS Saturday Morning
        + The Daily Report
        + The Dish
        + Face the Nation
        + Sunday Morning
        + The Takeout
        + The Uplift
    * 
        + CBS News Investigates
        + CBS News Confirmed
        + CBS Village
        + Podcasts
        + Newsletters
        + Download Our App
        + CBS News Team
        + Executive Team
        + Brand Studio
        + Paramount+
        + Join Our Talent Community
        + RSS Feeds
        + Davos Interviews
        + A Moment With...
        + Innovators & Disruptors
        + Economy 4.0
    * 
        * U.S.
        * Government Shutdown
        * Bondi Hearing
        * World
        * Politics
        * HealthWatch
        * MoneyWatch
        * Entertainment
        * Crime
        * Sports

Watch CBS News

                Politics

              Supreme Court wrestles with Colorado counselor's challenge to "conversion therapy" ban

                  By
                    Melissa Quinn
                          Melissa Quinn
                          Politics Reporter
                        Melissa Quinn is a politics reporter for CBSNews.com, where she covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts.
                      Read Full Bio
                    Melissa Quinn

                Updated on: October 7, 2025 / 1:06 PM EDT / CBS News

                  * 
                  * 
                  * 

            Washington — The Supreme Court on Tuesday grappled with a Colorado counselor's challenge to the state's ban on "conversion therapy" for minors.

            The case was brought by Kaley Chiles, who argued the state's restriction unconstitutionally censors conversations about gender dysphoria and sexual orientation that she seeks to have with young patients. Chiles, who is Christian, said she wants to engage in talk therapy with minor clients who want to "reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions, change sexual behaviors, or grow in the experience of harmony with [their] physical body."

            But she said she fears that having those conversations with young patients puts her at risk of violating Colorado's law. Lower courts ruled against Chiles, finding Colorado's law regulates professional conduct.

            An issue at the center of the dispute, known as Chiles v. Salazar, is whether Colorado's ban regulates Chiles' professional conduct or her speech. Shannon Stevenson, Colorado's solicitor general, told the justices its law only regulates medical treatments and practices provided by a counselors licensed by the state. Jim Campbell, who argued on behalf of Chiles, told the court that the law seeks to transform therapists into "mouthpieces for the government."

            Colorado's conversion therapy ban

            Called the Minor Conversion Therapy Law, Colorado's ban was enacted in 2019 and prohibits mental health professionals from engaging in any practice or treatment, including talk therapy, that attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, 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."

            Violators face fines of up to $5,000 and risk being suspended from practicing or stripped of their license. Colorado is one of more than 20 states that have enacted bans on "conversion therapy."

            Several years after Colorado's law took effect, Chiles sued state licensing officials, arguing that the ban violates her free speech rights by censoring her conversations with patients based on viewpoint and the content of those discussions.

            Colorado has not taken any disciplinary action against Chiles or any other licensed therapist for violating the ban, it said in court papers, and the state asserts that the talk therapy Chiles' aims to provide wouldn't defy its law because she expressly doesn't seek to change a patient's gender identity or sexual orientation.

            "The only thing that the law prohibits therapists from doing is performing a treatment that seeks the predetermined outcome of changing a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity because that treatment is unsafe and ineffective," they wrote in a filing with the Supreme Court.

            But Campbell told the court that anonymous complaints have been filed against Chiles in recent weeks that the state is now investigating. He argued that there remains a "credible threat of enforcement" against her.

            At least two of the justices appeared skeptical of Colorado's interpretation of the law and its claim that Chiles would not be violating it with the types of discussions she wants to have with patients. Justice Neil Gorsuch called the state's reading of the law "peculiar," while Justice Samuel Alito questioned how Stevenson "can square your interpretation" of the law with its plain meaning.

            Campbell argued that Colorado's ban forbids licensed counselors from helping minors pursue "state disfavored goals" on issues of gender and sexuality. The law prevents families and teens who want to address gender dysphoria by aligning identity and sex from working with a licensed counselor to help reach that goal. But practices that provide assistance to patients undergoing gender transition are allowed under the law, he said.

            The law "undermines the well-being" of children struggling with gender dysphoria by restricting their access to certain kinds of talk therapy, Campbell said, and he argued Chiles is being "silenced" every day that Colorado's ban can be enforced against her.

            "The Free Speech Clause forbids the State from censoring mutual conversations on important topics. This includes discussions between counselors and clients on deeply personal issues," lawyers with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group that is representing Chiles, wrote in filings. "Colorado's viewpoint-based intrusion into the counseling room is unconstitutional."

            Campbell argued that the high court "has recognized many times" that one-on-one conversation, which is Chiles' method of treatment, is a form of speech.

            "She's encouraging them to achieve their goals," he said of Chiles' discussions with clients, adding that "this is an ongoing active dialogue" that "absolutely has to be protected" by the First Amendment.

            But state officials said there is a long history of states regulating the health care profession to protect patients from harmful practices, and the First Amendment has never barred states from doing that. Colorado pointed to medical malpractice laws and other licensing regimes, which lawyers said have long covered mental health and other treatments performed with words.

            Stevenson, who argued on behalf of Colorado, said its law is a "reasonable regulation" of professional conduct. She told the justices that therapists have a fiduciary duty to protect their clients from substandard care.

            Additionally, they have argued conversion therapy is ineffective and associated with depression, anxiety, loss of faith and suicidality, regardless of how it is performed. Major medical associations have warned that efforts to change a patient's sexual orientation or gender identity are potentially harmful to young people and not supported by credible scientific evidence.

            Colorado officials also refuted Chiles' claim that the state is trying to tamp down on certain speech — discouraging gender transition — that it disfavors.

            "At no time has the First Amendment been understood to confer on professionals a constitutional right to use words to deliver treatment that violates the standard of care," they argued.

            During the arguments, Alito asked Stevenson if a post-adolescent male is attracted to other males and wants a therapist's help in ending or lessening that attraction, would that be banned under Colorado's statute?

            Stevenson said it turns on whether the purpose of the treatment is to change the individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. If the patient wanted a counselor's help to become straight, that would be banned, she acknowledged, but if the patient were being advised on how to cope with his sexuality, that would be allowed.

            She argued that there are harms that result from conversion therapy, which posits that "you can change this innate thing about yourself."

            Both Alito and Justice Elena Kagan raised the possibility that applying the statute could result in viewpoint discrimination. Kagan said that if we're in "normal free speech-land … rather than in this kind of doctor-land," if the male in Alito's example identifies as gay and is told by a therapist that he'll be helped to accept that, that is acceptable. But if the male is told we're "going to help you change," that is not.

            "One of those is permissible and the other is not, that seems like viewpoint discrimination in the way we would normally understand viewpoint discrimination," she said.

            Stevenson said she agreed, but said it underscored why medical treatment has to be treated differently.

            Colorado lawyers and those backing the state have also warned that if Chiles' prevails, it would destabilize longstanding health care regulation and gut states' power to ensure mental health professionals adhere to the standard of care.

            The Trump administration is backing Chiles in the case, but told the Supreme Court in a filing that it should send the case back to lower courts to take another look at the law.

            "Colorado is muzzling one side of an ongoing debate in the mental-health community about how to discuss questions of gender and sexuality with children," Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in a filing. "Under the First Amendment, the State bears a heavy burden to justify that content-based restriction on protected speech."

            A few justices, including Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson, raised the idea of sending the case back to the lower courts to review the Colorado law under strict scrutiny, the most demanding level of judicial review. Why wouldn't we do that? Jackson asked Campbell.

            He responded that Chiles continues to suffer irreparable harm and "is being silenced" because of concerns she could violate Colorado's ban, while children who need help are "being left without support."

            A decision from the Supreme Court is expected by the end of June or early July.

              The U.S. Supreme Court More

                  Supreme Court wrestles with challenge to Colorado "conversion therapy" ban
                  Supreme Court to hear free-speech clash over Colorado "conversion therapy" ban
                  Supreme Court won't take up Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal of conviction
                  As justices confront harassment, death threats, Barrett says "I'm not afraid"
                  8-year sentence for plot to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh
              * Supreme Court of the United States
              * LGBTQ+
              Melissa Quinn

                  Melissa Quinn is a politics reporter for CBSNews.com, where she covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts.

            © 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

              More from CBS News

                Mom weighs in as Supreme Court considers Colorado ban on "conversion therapy"

                Supreme Court won't take up Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal of conviction

                Florida, 20+ states urge Supreme Court on parental rights in gender identity case

                Political ads target Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention elections

  Featured Bondi Hearing Government Shutdown 2025 NFL Week 5 Predictions CFB Week 6 What to Watch Follow Us On YouTube Facebook Instagram X Privacy Privacy Policy California Notice Your Privacy Choices Terms of Use More from CBS News Newsletters Podcasts Download Our App Brand Studio Sitemap Company About Paramount Advertise With Paramount Join Our Talent Community Help Feedback

    Copyright ©2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

    View CBS News In
    CBS News App Open
    Chrome Safari Continue