The nine justices of the United States Supreme Court have ruled on a Colorado law prohibiting mental health professionals from “conversion therapies” targeting LGBT minors.
In the United States, it is constitutional to bar transgender minors from access to medical treatment, but unconstitutional to ban “conversion therapies” that claim to cure LGBT youths. The Supreme Court of the country has thus invalidated a Colorado law prohibiting mental health professionals from any “therapy” aimed at altering the sexual orientation or gender identity of a patient under 18. The ruling, issued on 31 March, upholds the claim of a therapist who challenged this law, enacted in 2019, thereby invalidating similar legislation in about twenty American states.
Not surprisingly, the plaintiff is a Christian Colorado citizen, Kaley Chiles. The state’s mental health code already provided an exception for “any person engaging in pastoral activity”, with the prohibition on conversion therapies applying only to psychiatrists, psychologists, or licensed therapists. But Kaley Chiles also holds a degree in mental health and works as a licensed professional counselor. It is in this capacity that the six conservative justices on the Supreme Court, but also two of the three liberal justices, sided with her on the basis of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which protects freedom of expression. “Colorado may deem this ban indispensable to health and safety. But the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to impose an orthodoxy of thought or speech in this country”, thus justification by Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The LGBT Docket before the Supreme Court
Not surprisingly, the plaintiff’s position was backed by the administration of Donald Trump. Only the progressive Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed opposition to the decision of her peers. In the opinion of the court, she wrote that the ruling “irrationally extends the powers of the Constitution into unexplored territories. This will create grave risks for the health and well-being of Americans”. During the hearing, the Colorado Attorney General, a Democratic state official, argued that such a decision indeed opens the door to dangerous deregulation of mental health professions.
In June 2025, the Supreme Court had, by contrast, ruled in favor of a law, passed in 2023 in the state of Tennessee, barring transgender minors from access to medical treatments, including puberty blockers. American LGBT associations therefore await with concern the expected rulings from its nine judges on other crucial cases, such as same-sex marriage or the access of transgender women to the women’s categories in sports competitions.
From our side of the Atlantic, Europe is preparing to globally ban “conversion therapies.” After a petition to that effect collected more than one million signatures, the European Commission is obliged to respond. Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Equality, has expressed support for those who “stand up against these practices that are shameful”, and several groups in the European Parliament support the ban.
