The Supreme Court grappled with a Colorado counselor's challenge to the state's ban on "conversion therapy" for minors.  It should not to be allowed.  

     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."

     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."