The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled 8-1 against Colorado’s ‘conversion therapy’ ban for LGBTQ minors.
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
The lawsuit was filed by Christian talk therapist Kaley Chiles.
Kaley Chiles argued that Colorado’s ban on her talk therapy methods violated her First Amendment rights.
Chiles counsels children and minor teens struggling with gender identity issues.
Justice Gorsuch agreed and said Colorado’s ban on certain talk therapy methods “censors speech based on viewpoint.”
“Under our precedents, bedrock First Amendment principles have far less salience when the speakers are medical professionals,” Justice Jackson wrote, according to NBC News.
NBC News reported:
In a blow to LGBTQ rights, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy aimed at youths struggling with their sexual orientation or gender identity violates the free speech rights of a conservative Christian therapist.
The 8-1 decision in favor of therapist Kaley Chiles on her claim brought under the Constitution’s First Amendment is likely to have national implications — more than 20 states have similar laws. It could also have an impact on other forms of medical treatment that involve speech.
Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that “the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
Colorado’s law “does not just ban physical interventions,” Gorsuch wrote. It also “censors speech based on viewpoint.”
In deciding the case, the court embraced Chiles’ argument that the Colorado law banning conversion therapy regulates speech, not conduct, as Colorado had argued.
As such, the measure is not like other health care regulations that focus on conduct, the court concluded. The case, decided on the global Transgender Day of Visibility, will now return to the lower courts.
The post Supreme Court Rules 8-1 Against Colorado’s Ban on ‘Conversion Therapy’ for Minors – Justice Jackson Dissents appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.