The United States Supreme Court appears poised to side with a challenge against a Colorado law that bans psychotherapists from conducting “conversion therapy” on minors in an attempt to influence their gender identification or sexuality.On Tuesday, the high court, which has a six-to-three conservative majority, heard arguments in the case, which weighs whether the ban violates the protections for free speech under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe complaint was brought by licensed counsellor Kaley Chiles, a Christian who claims Colorado’s law infringes on her free speech rights.But the state has defended its law. Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson argued that the ban regulates harmful conduct, not speech.The 2019 Colorado law prohibits licensed mental healthcare providers from seeking to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity with a predetermined outcome in mind. That practice, known as conversion therapy, has been often associated with religious prohibitions against gay or transgender identities.Detractors have warned that such “therapy” is pseudoscience and can be harmful, not to mention discriminatory, for LGBTQ youth.Justices weigh argumentsColorado maintains that Chiles’s allegations of free-speech violations are hypothetical because the state has not actually disciplined her.But the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative organisation representing Chiles, has argued that the danger is that professionals might censor themselves for fear of punishment. Advertisement James Campbell, a lawyer for Chiles, told the justices that Colorado’s law “forbids counsellors like Kaley Chiles from helping minors pursue state-disfavoured goals on issues of gender and sexuality”.Conservative Justice Samuel Alito seemed to …
