![\"Christian](\"https:\/\/dailycallernewsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/The_US_Supreme_Court_up_close_and_personal-e1751293433114.jpg\")
By Katelynn Richardson<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christian counselor Kaley Chiles hopes the Supreme Court will vindicate her free speech rights on Tuesday, when the justices consider her challenge to a state law that restricts her ability to help minor clients struggling with gender and sexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under Colorado\u2019s \u201cconversion therapy\u201d ban, a counselor can encourage youth to live as the opposite sex. But counselors risk losing their license if they help young clients who want to feel comfortable in their body live according to their true identity as a man or woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not the only counselor whose speech is being restricted,\u201d Chiles told the Daily Caller News Foundation. \u201cMy clients are not the only clients who don\u2019t have access to care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colorado\u2019s Minor Conversion Therapy Law (MCTL), which was passed in 2019, defines<\/a> \u201cconversion therapy\u201d as efforts to \u201cchange an individual\u2019s sexual orientation or gender identity,\u201d including romantic attractions or gender expressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA practicing Christian, Chiles believes that people flourish when they live consistently with God\u2019s design, including their biological sex,\u201d Chiles\u2019 petition<\/a> filed with the court states. \u201cMany of her clients seek her counsel precisely because they believe that their faith and their relationship with God establishes the foundation upon which to understand their identity and desires.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Colorado argues the law only prohibits therapists from \u201cperforming a treatment that seeks the predetermined outcome of changing a minor\u2019s sexual orientation or gender identity because that treatment is unsafe and ineffective,\u201d claiming<\/a> the law does not require therapists to \u201caffirm\u201d any identity. It notes exemptions<\/a> are offered to those who are \u201cengaged in the practice of religious ministry,\u201d Colorado notes in court briefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chiles says it\u2019s not only her speech being restricted. Children and families who want \u201csomething other than the state-approved one-size-fits-all counseling goals\u201d can\u2019t access the care they need under Colorado\u2019s law, she told the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo many families are struggling with this issue, and they don\u2019t know where to turn,\u201d Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) senior counsel Jonathan Scruggs told the Daily Caller News Foundation. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to be forced down the path and taking drugs and surgeries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled<\/a> against Chiles in September 2024, finding she \u201cfailed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits of her free speech and free exercise claims.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its brief, Colorado claims that \u201cevery major professional healthcare association in the country further agrees that conversion therapy is not just ineffective and unnecessary, but can be harmful, particularly to minors.\u201d It cites medical organizations like the American Psychological Association (APA) and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH<\/a>), which have previously allowed political concerns<\/a> about child-sex change bans to influence their decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is no reliable evidence supporting Colorado\u2019s counseling ban; and all the best evidence on treating gender dysphoria in minors recommends the very psychosocial treatment Colorado forbids,\u201d Do No Harm Medical Director Dr. Kurt Miceli said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientific advances were not made by respecting \u201cauthority,\u201d Judge Harris Hartz, wrote in his dissent from the 10th Circuit\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnly in a very weak moment would a true scientist say, \u2018I am science,’\u201d Hartz wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some parents are only able to find counselors who push their children to medically transition, ADF senior counsel Kate Anderson told the DCNF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf their child\u2019s goal is to try to work through their feelings and to feel comfortable in their own body, then they cannot find those counselors at all,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they find counselors that share their beliefs on this topic, those counselors aren\u2019t able to help them because of the fines and the threats of loss of license.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2024 Cass report<\/a>, a four-year review of transgender medical studies in the U.K. that found \u201cweak evidence\u201d for offering puberty blockers to children, also noted<\/a> clinicians have expressed concern that legislation on \u201cconversion practices\u201d has left staff \u201cfearful of accepting referrals\u201d from young people questioning their gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Twenty-three states, along with Washington, D.C., have laws banning \u201cconversion therapy,\u201d according<\/a> to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP). In Ohio, Cuyahoga County became the first county in the state to institute a \u201cconversion therapy\u201d ban, the DCNF reported<\/a> Sept. 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI hope the Supreme Court vindicates my and my clients\u2019 right to free speech, which will also likely impact other people having their free speech as well, so that we can all have private counseling conversations and make our own goals in counseling without the interference of the government,\u201d Chiles told the DCNF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As you read the article, pay close attention to all the levels involved in a direct conspiracy to harm children and profit off of mutilating them with pharmaceuticals and surgeries. And there have been many who after reaching adulthood regret having let the state and organizations do this harm to them, with many turning to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13773,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13772\/revisions\/13773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}