Supreme Court Ruling Puts California Conversion Therapy Ban at Risk

California’s conversion therapy ban — the first in the country — is now at legal risk following a Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that sided with a Colorado Christian counselor on First Amendment grounds. The counselor argued the state had no business telling her what she could and couldn’t say to her therapy clients and California’s 14-year-old ban on conversion therapy for minors is now on thin legal ice because of it. Eight justices said yes. One said no.

For those not in the know, conversion therapy is a catchall term for practices that attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It has included talk therapy, behavioral conditioning, and in historical cases, electric shock and drug-induced nausea. Every major medical organization in the country has condemned it. Research has found it more than doubles suicide risk among those subjected to it. Colorado’s law, like California’s, applied only to licensed therapists — not to religious counselors or family members.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The case is Chiles v. Salazar. Kaley Chiles runs Deeper Stories Counseling in Colorado Springs. She does talk therapy. She’s Christian. She wanted to work with minors who came to her wanting to live, in her words, consistently with their biological sex. Colorado’s 2019 law said no. She sued.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only dissenter.

The ruling technically doesn’t kill Colorado’s law. Lower courts have to look at it again, this time under strict scrutiny — a legal standard most laws don’t survive.

California’s law has been on the books since 2012, and West Hollywood has consistently positioned itself as an LGBTQ sanctuary city. California was first. Twenty-three states and D.C. followed. Every one of those laws faces the same legal question now. 

West Hollywood declared itself a sanctuary city for transgender people in April 2023, adopting a resolution that explicitly applauded state legislation protecting transgender youth. California’s conversion therapy ban is exactly the kind of protection that resolution was referencing. Tuesday’s ruling puts it at risk.

Conversion therapy is a catchall term for practices that try to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Every major medical organization in the country has condemned it. The American Medical Association says it can lead to depression, anxiety, and suicidal behavior. Research has found it more than doubles suicide risk among those subjected to it. The American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have said the same.

Chiles said her approach is different from the shock therapy and aversion techniques historically associated with the practice. She does talk therapy only, with clients who seek her out. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated a hate group, represented her. The Trump administration filed in support of Chiles.

Jackson, in dissent, pointed to the court’s own ruling from earlier this term upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. States got deference there to regulate healthcare. She wanted to know why this case was different. “I’m just, from a very broad perspective, concerned,” she said during oral arguments in October, “about making sure that we have equivalence with respect to these things.”

The majority wasn’t moved.