US Supreme Court to take up state bans on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children

 

 WASHINGTON —

Today the Supreme Court received a case from Colorado we're repealing their regulation on banning 'conversion therapy' for chumps who are lesbian or gay or transgender. They're asking the question of whether cities and states can enact laws regarding that.

There has been a flood of cases recently before the conservative Supreme Court, considering the President's moves, such as prohibiting transgender individuals from serving in the military and cutting federal funding for treatments that confirm gender transition in children.

And the Supreme Court justices are also considering a case from Tennessee currently regarding whether or not laws prohibiting treating children as transgender violate the Constitution. But they haven't made a decision yet. Colorado is one of essentially half the states where it is illegal to attempt to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity via counseling.

Actually the question before the law here is whether such a law encroaches upon the free speech of counselors. The proponents of such laws state that they oversee the conduct of professionals who are licensed by the state. Such people whose skill is governed by legislations know that they need to behave in a certain way and they play by rules for ensuring public safety as regulations are enforced.

The 10th U.S. The Denver Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that significant state law. The 11th U.S. The Atlanta Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed some Florida local prohibitions. In 2023, the court had rejected a similar case, even though there was a split among federal appeals courts that had considered state prohibitions and reached different conclusions.

Three of the most respected Justices  Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas  signaled that they would have signed on to address the matter. Four justices are needed to grant review. The nine-member court does not usually disclose how justices vote at this point in a case so it is unknown who would have given the fourth vote.

The case first appears in court in their new court season, which begins right in October. There is a petition filed on behalf of counselor Kaley Chiles from Colorado Springs. The American legal group Alliance Defending Freedom has come to their aid. Alliance Defending Freedom is a conservative organization that has kept popping up lately on the courthouse steps of cases that deal with grand social issues. One of them was a 5-4 ruling in 2018 in which the justices held that California could not compel state-licensed anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to post information about abortion.

Chiles' attorneys relied heavily on that ruling in petitioning the court to hear her case. They say that Chile does not attempt to 'heal' clients of same-sex attraction, or to alter their sexual orientation. While arguing in favor of the court to deny the appeal, Colorado attorneys stated that legislators moved to regulate professional behavior, "based on overwhelming evidence that attempts to change a child's sexual orientation or gender identity are unsafe and ineffective.".