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US top court rules against state ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ+ youth

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that…

By Samantha Johnson / March 31, 2026
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the discredited practice.

An 8-1 High Court majority sided with a Christian counsellor who argues the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint”. The First Amendment, he wrote, “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country”.

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In a solo dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that states should be free to regulate healthcare, even if that means incidental restrictions on speech. The decision, Jackson wrote, “opens a dangerous can of worms” that “threatens to impair states’ ability to regulate the provision of medical care in any respect”.

The decision is the latest in a line of recent cases in which the justices have backed claims of religious discrimination while taking a sceptical view of LGBTQ+ rights.

Visitors line up outside the US Supreme Court building to watch proceedings. Photo: Reuters
Visitors line up outside the US Supreme Court building to watch proceedings. Photo: Reuters
Kaley Chiles, with support from President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, said the law wrongly bars her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy for kids.

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