The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a Christian counselor’s free-speech challenge to a Colorado law prohibiting the practice of “conversion therapy” on LGBTQ children.
Colorado is one of at least 20 states and 100 localities with similar laws. Colorado’s version, enacted in 2019, prevents licensed counseling professionals from trying to “change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” including by conforming their “gender expressions” or by reducing their “romantic attraction” toward individuals of the same sex. Colorado says the law is based on “overwhelming evidence” of the negative effects of conversion therapy on teens.