Supreme Court rules against Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ+ kids

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS • March 31, 2026 • nation

Key Points:

The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against Colorado's law banning "conversion therapy" for LGBTQ+ minors, siding with a Christian counselor who argued the ban violates the First Amendment's free speech protections.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the law censors speech based on viewpoint and emphasized that the First Amendment protects against enforcing orthodoxy in thought or speech, a view supported by liberal justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.
The decision raises concerns about states' ability to regulate health care speech, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting and warning it could impair states' regulation of medical care.
Colorado defended the law as a regulation of health care to prevent harmful, discredited conversion therapy practices, while LGBTQ+ advocates condemned the ruling as dangerous and contrary to medical consensus.
The ruling is expected to affect similar bans in other states, potentially making them unenforceable, and was backed by the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, which has frequently litigated religious freedom cases before the Court.

Trending Business