Supreme Court Will Take Up 'Conversion Therapy' Issue

The Supreme Court will wade into the controversial territory of "conversion therapy" for LGBTQ minors in its next term. The court on Monday said it would take up the case of a therapist in Colorado who is challenging her state's ban on the practice. Details:

• The counseling: Conversion therapy involves counselors advising minors who identify as gay (or are questioning it) to live as heterosexuals, and minors who identify as transgender to identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. More than 20 states bar such counseling, reports the AP.

• The challenge: Kaley Chiles, a Colorado Springs therapist represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, says the state is restricting her free speech by dictating what she is allowed to tell her patients. Many of her clients are Christians who "believe their lives will be more fulfilling if aligned with the teachings of their faith, and they want to achieve freedom from what they see as harmful self-perceptions and sexual behaviors," her lawyers write, per NBC News.
• State's view: Colorado has said its rule is necessary because "overwhelming evidence" shows that conversion therapy is harmful and may raise the risk of depression and suicide, reports USA Today. Medical groups including the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Association for Social Workers have denounced conversion therapy.
• Shifting court: The Supreme Court rejected a similar challenge in 2023 because only three justices—Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas—thought the case had merit. It takes four votes to grant a review, and it is not clear who provided the fourth vote this time around.

(More US Supreme Court stories.)