Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to State Conversion Therapy Ban

Within the pediatric gender medicine field, there have been conflicts over whether such state bans compromise mental health care for minors with gender-related distress.

The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would hear a case challenging a Colorado law barring counselors from practicing conversion therapy—meaning efforts to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity—on minors.

The case was brought by Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal powerhouse that has sought to undo laws protecting abortion, insurance coverage for contraception, gay rights and pediatric access to gender-transition treatment.

The Supreme Court case concerns whether conversion therapy bans violate the free-speech rights of counselors.

“The government has no business censoring private conversations between clients and counselors, nor should a counselor be used as a tool to impose the government’s biased views on her clients,” said ADF CEO Counsel Kristen Waggoner in a press release.