Supreme Court Rules Against Colorado's LGBTQ 'Conversion Therapy' Ban

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 on March 31, 2026, against Colorado's 2019 law banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing that the ban constitutes viewpoint-based censorship violating the First Amendment. The decision, supported by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, sends the case back to lower courts under a stricter legal standard and threatens similar laws in twenty-three other states. Counselor Kaley Chiles, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, challenged the ban arguing it prevents non-affirming therapy distinct from discredited historical practices like shock therapy. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented alone, warning the ruling could impair states' ability to regulate medical care, while LGBTQ+ advocates note conversion therapy has been condemned by every major U.S. medical association and linked to serious psychological harm.

Supreme Court's 8-1 ruling on First Amendment grounds

• ▪The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against Colorado's law banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ kids on March 31, 2026.
• ▪Justice Elena Kagan wrote that a state could not ban talk therapy designed to affirm a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity.
• ▪The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld Colorado's conversion therapy ban before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
• ▪Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that Colorado's conversion therapy ban censors speech based on viewpoint.
• ▪Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter in the Supreme Court's ruling on Colorado's conversion therapy ban.
• ▪Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the Supreme Court's conversion therapy decision opens a dangerous can of worms that threatens to impair states' ability to regulate the provision of medical care.
• ▪Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in the United States.
• ▪The Supreme Court sent Colorado's conversion therapy ban back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.
• ▪Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor supported Justice Neil Gorsuch's opinion on Colorado's conversion therapy ban.
• ▪The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down conversion therapy bans similar to Colorado's in Florida.

Counselor's religious freedom claims versus state regulation of therapy

• ▪Kaley Chiles contends that her therapy approach is different from conversion therapy practices from decades ago like shock therapy.
• ▪Counselor Kaley Chiles challenged Colorado's conversion therapy ban with support from President Donald Trump's Republican administration.
• ▪The Alliance Defending Freedom represented Kaley Chiles in the Supreme Court case challenging Colorado's conversion therapy ban.
• ▪Colorado enacted its conversion therapy ban in 2019.
• ▪The Alliance Defending Freedom represented a Christian website designer who successfully challenged Colorado anti-discrimination law because she didn't want to work with same-sex couples.
• ▪Colorado's 2019 conversion therapy law carries the possibility of fines and license suspension.

Medical consensus and LGBTQ+ advocacy response to the decision

• ▪The Supreme Court's conversion therapy ruling is expected to eventually make similar laws in other states unenforceable.
• ▪Conversion therapy has been condemned by every major medical association in the United States.
• ▪The Movement Advancement Project is an advocacy group that tracks policies that impact LGBTQ+ people.

Perspective of LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations

• ▪Conversion therapy bans in twenty-three states are now vulnerable to legal challenges following the Supreme Court's Colorado ruling.

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