{"id":277062,"date":"2025-10-08T11:55:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/?p=277062"},"modified":"2025-10-08T11:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:55:07","slug":"supreme-court-conversion-therapy-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/video\/supreme-court-conversion-therapy-ban-277062","title":{"rendered":"Why the U.S. Supreme Court case on Colorado conversion therapy ban matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"is-style-article-kik\">How the U.S. Supreme Court rules on Colorado\u2019s ban on conversion therapy for minors will have massive implications for queer people in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Why the U.S. Supreme Court case on Colorado&#039;s conversion therapy ban matters | Xtra Magazine\" width=\"540\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UHCsvWJZSD8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The U.S. Supreme Court just heard a case about Colorado\u2019s ban on conversion therapy for minors, which could have devastating implications for queer people in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court heard arguments in a case brought by Christian talk therapist Kaley Chiles against the state of Colorado. In the suit, Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom argued that Colorado\u2019s ban <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/24\/24-539\/336594\/20250106113037565_Chiles%20SCOTUS%20BIO%20-%20FINAL%20PDFA.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">violates her First Amendment rights<\/a> to discuss her faith with her patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state\u2019s lawyers argue that this argument is more hypothetical than it is rooted in reality. The state claims it has not received a complaint about Chiles\u2019s professional conduct\u2014nor has she been disciplined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Questions asked by the Court\u2019s conservative justices appeared to sympathize with Chiles\u2019s free speech claims, while the Court\u2019s liberal justices seemed to align with Colorado\u2019s argument that they have the right to ban a practice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/us-supreme-court-examine-colorados-gay-conversion-therapy-ban-2025-10-07\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">they deem unsafe and ineffective.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court currently has a conservative majority, with only three justices appointed by Democratic presidents compared to six justices appointed by Republican presidents\u2014including three by Donald Trump alone.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the Court does rule against the state, it will likely have implications for the more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lgbtmap.org\/equality-maps\/conversion_therapy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20 other states with similar bans.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-end\">Conversion therapy has been condemned by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/10\/07\/health\/conversion-therapy-court\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">long list of major medical organizations and experts<\/a> and has been found to significantly increase a person\u2019s risk of depression or suicide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How the U.S. Supreme Court rules on Colorado\u2019s ban on conversion therapy for minors will have massive implications for queer people in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1224,"featured_media":277059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"editorial_slug":"112","_editorial_slug":"112","exclude_from_latest_block":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,5],"contributors":[3053,1933],"topic":[84,1825,112,109],"clients":[],"series":[],"timeliness":[63],"editorial_format":[2088],"type-of-work":[2536],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277062"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277071,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277062\/revisions\/277071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277062"},{"taxonomy":"contributors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributors?post=277062"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=277062"},{"taxonomy":"clients","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/clients?post=277062"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=277062"},{"taxonomy":"timeliness","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/timeliness?post=277062"},{"taxonomy":"editorial_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial_format?post=277062"},{"taxonomy":"type-of-work","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type-of-work?post=277062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}