US supreme court set to rule on states’ ability to ban convert gay and transgender youth
Matt Salmon remembers getting into a circle with the other teenagers in his group therapy session and shouting obscenities at a gay boy forced to stand in the middle.
And he recalls being made to sit on the floor and hug other men because, his therapist said, his sexuality was driven by a “void” that needed to be filled with “healthy male intimacy.”
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Nearly 20 years later, Salmon is still shaken by his late teenage experience with “conversion therapy,” the discredited practice that purports to “convert” gay people to heterosexuality and is the focus of a blockbuster appeal to be argued before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
“I remember watching these boys as they’re essentially being retraumatized and just broken down,” Salmon recalled in an interview with CNN. “I’ve done a lot of healing, but those wounds are still very much present.”
Days after returning to Washington following its summer break, the Supreme Court will turn its attention to a six-year-old Colorado law that prohibits licensed counsellors in the state from practising conversion therapy on minors – one of a series of cases the 6-3 conservative court has heard, or soon will, that deal with gay and transgender young people.
Salmon is one of several victims of the practice who have submitted briefs at the Supreme Court supporting Colorado.
Puberty blockers and hormone therapy
Just a few months ago, the Supreme Court let stand a Tennessee law that bans puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors seeking to transition to match their gender identity. Early next year, it will hear arguments over whether states may ban transgender student athletes from playing on teams that align with their gender identity.
The high-profile cases are landing at a moment of political backlash for transgender Americans, driven in part by President Donald Trump’s second administration. They are also a product of blue- and red-state laws enacted in response to an increase in youth who identify as transgender.
Twenty-five states have enacted bans on conversion therapy, a practice that has also been denounced by the nation’s leading medical groups. Critics say that minors pressured to change their sexual orientation or gender identity are more likely to suffer from depression and have suicidal thoughts.
But the question for the Supreme Court is whether Colorado’s law goes too far, violating the First Amendment’s speech protections by dictating what counsellors can discuss with clients. In a troubling sign for Colorado, the court has taken an expansive view of First Amendment protections in past cases, including when it comes to “professional speech.”
Kaley Chiles, a licensed counsellor in Colorado, challenged the law on those grounds. Her “faith-informed counselling” would be “speech only”, and she says her clients would voluntarily seek her services. She rejects the term “conversion therapy” and instead describes the work she hopes to do as helping clients who “have a goal to become comfortable and at peace” with their bodies.
“The problem is that the state has decided that my clients are not allowed to make certain goals,” Chiles told CNN in an interview. “People are struggling and suffering now because counsellors like myself are not able to serve them without taking some pretty serious risks.”
Chiles could face fines up to $5,000 and lose her license if she violates the law. Since the prohibition was enacted, Chiles said she has avoided conversations with clients that may be perceived as violating the law.
And, she said, she has faced consequences for leading the legal effort, losing referrals and speaking engagements.
“But the clients who are being impacted,” she said, “they’re kids and they’re struggling.”
Defining ‘conversion therapy’
Chiles says her counselling involves conversations that begin with clients discussing their goals and religious beliefs. And she explicitly rules out “aversive techniques.” But some of her critics say it’s not entirely clear what she has in mind, and Chiles’ proposed methods are an issue the court’s three-justice liberal wing is almost certain to raise on Tuesday.
Colorado has argued that the way Chiles has described her approach may not even violate its law.
“When she says, ‘I want to help patients develop a better understanding of their own sexual orientation or gender identity,’ that doesn’t fall within what is banned under this law,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser told CNN.
“This law says you can’t pressure people to be someone they’re not,” said Weiser, a Democrat who is running for governor in the state’s election next year. “And if someone is gay, you can’t pressure them to be straight.”
