WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” for homosexuality and gender confusion in minors violates the First Amendment.
The 8-1 ruling in Chiles v. Salazar denounced the Colorado law as an “egregious assault” on freedom of speech and a form of “viewpoint discrimination.”
The Supreme Court upheld counselor Kaley Chiles’ right to engage in talk therapy with clients, including young people, who seek to reduce or eliminate homosexual inclinations, “change sexual behaviors, or grow in the experience of harmony with their bodies.”
The justices stressed that licensed professionals’ speech is not bound by “currently prevailing professional views.”
“Medical consensus, too, is not static; it evolves and always has,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority. “A prevailing standard of care may reflect what most practitioners believe today, but it cannot mark the outer boundary of what they may say tomorrow.”
Only far-left Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the ruling, which reverses a previous decision from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Colorado.
The justices sent the case back to the Tenth Circuit, ordering further proceedings in light of today’s ruling.
“Kids deserve real help affirming that their bodies are not a mistake and that they are wonderfully made. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today is a significant win for free speech, common sense, and families desperate to help their children,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Chief Legal Counsel Jim Campbell, who argued the case before the Supreme Court last fall. “States cannot silence voluntary conversations that help young people seeking to grow comfortable with their bodies.”
Alliance Defending Freedom added that the decision “will help protect counselors from similar laws in more than 20 states and over 100 localities across the country, freeing them to help struggling youth seeking professional guidance.”
Colorado’s severe ban on “conversion therapy,” signed by homosexual Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in 2019, prohibits licensed counselors from engaging in “any practice or treatment” that attempts to change homosexual inclinations or gender confusion in minors.
The law bans all “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.” At the same time, however, it allows practices that “provide acceptance, support, and understanding” regarding a minor’s sexual inclinations and that promote “identity exploration and development.”
It also permits “assistance to a person undergoing gender transition.”
Therapists deemed to have violated the law can face harsh penalties, including fines of up to $5,000 per violation, suspension, and loss of their counselor’s license.
Therapy can change homosexual inclinations, gender confusion
Research and personal testimonies affirm the success of therapy in overcoming homosexuality and gender confusion.
Contrary to the assertions of activists and the medical establishment, studies have shown that deviant sexual inclinations can change significantly over time, with many young people who claim to be “LGBT” later identifying as heterosexual.
The overwhelming majority of children – more than 80-90 percent, according to studies – who suffer from gender confusion also come to embrace their sex by adulthood if not “affirmed” in a “transgender identity.”
Moreover, Colorado exposed young people to lifelong harm by pushing counselors to encourage homosexuality and transgenderism.
Homosexuality is linked to disproportionately high rates of HIV and various cancers, as well as numerous other STDs. Studies have found that “gender transition” drugs and surgeries likewise cause serious harm, including stroke, heart disease, infertility, and reproductive cancers.
Despite public acceptance, homosexuality is strongly correlated to drug abuse, domestic violence, childhood sexual trauma, and psychological problems as well.