In a massive victory for free speech and religious freedom, the US Supreme Court ruled last week in Chiles v. Salazar that Colorado cannot enforce a ban on “conversion therapy” for Christian counselors.

The case revolved around Colorado House Bill 19-1129, passed in 2019, which bars licensed counselors from discussing issues of sexuality and gender with patients except “from the state’s approved perspective.”

For years, Christian counselor Kaley Chiles practiced “talk therapy” with patients who sought help reconciling their gender and sexuality with their biological sex and religious beliefs, including minors who visited her voluntarily. House Bill 19-1129 essentially implemented a “gag order” on Chiles, barring her from offering help to those who asked her for it. 

With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, Chiles challenged the Colorado law and took her case to the US Supreme Court, which ruled 8-1 that the law violated the First Amendment.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion and was backed by concurring opinions from Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, both Biden appointees. Gorsuch wrote:

While the First Amendment protects many and varied forms of expression, the spoken word is perhaps the quintessential form of protected speech. And that is exactly the kind of expression in which Ms. Chiles seeks to engage.

As applied here, Colorado’s law does not just regulate the content of Ms. Chiles’s speech. It goes a step further, prescribing what views she may and may not express. For a gay client, Ms. Chiles may express “[a]cceptance, support, and understanding for the facilitation of . . . identity exploration.” For a client “undergoing gender transition,” Ms. Chiles may likewise offer words of “[a]ssistance.” But if a gay or transgender client seeks her counsel in the hope of changing his sexual orientation or gender identity, Ms. Chiles cannot provide it. The law forbids her from saying anything that “attempts . . . to change” a client’s “sexual orientation or gender identity,” including anything that might represent an “effor[t] to change [her client’s] behaviors or gender expressions or . . . romantic attraction[s].” Colorado disputes none of this; neither does the dissent. 

The First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country. It reflects instead a judgment that every American possesses an inalienable right to think and speak freely, and a faith in the free marketplace of ideas as the best means for discovering truth. However well-intentioned, any law that suppresses speech based on viewpoint represents an “egregious” assault on both of those commitments.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden appointee known for “being in the majority the least often,” was the only dissenting vote.

“[This ruling] sends a message that viewpoint discrimination is egregious,” ADF Attorney Jim Campbell shared. “It is a really significant vote of confidence for the First Amendment. It is a condemnation of viewpoint discrimination, and it is a recognition that counselors must be free to have voluntary conversations with clients who are seeking their help.”

Over 20 other states have “conversion therapy” bans on the books. This decisive legal victory puts them in legal jeopardy, giving counselors the backing they need to file similar challenges on First Amendment grounds.

“I hope this win for free speech will fuel a greater pursuit of truth. Both amongst the professionals and in the counseling room,” Chiles stated following the ruling. “Our kids deserve it.
The law I’m challenging harms kids and silences speech. Kids deserve real help, affirming that their bodies are not a mistake, and that they are wonderfully made. I’m grateful that my speech is protected.”