From the United States comes another alarming blow for LGBTQ+ rights

The latest news from the United States is deeply worrying for LGBTQ+ people and their allies: the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors, ruling that the law violates free speech protections under the First Amendment. In an 8-1 decision, the court sided with Christian counselor Kaley Chiles, who challenged the 2019 state law on religious grounds, as reported by SCOTUSblog, BBC News and CBS News.

U.S. Supreme Court overturns Colorado ban

Colorado had banned licensed practitioners from carrying out so-called conversion therapy on minors since 2019, joining a growing number of states that had prohibited the practice. These therapies claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, often by framing homosexuality or gender variance as a disorder to be corrected, according to BBC News, DW and Politico.

Writing for the majority, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch said the Colorado law did not merely regulate conduct, but “speech as speech,” arguing that in Chiles’s case the state was censoring the therapist’s views rather than controlling physical treatment, as explained by SCOTUSblog and CBS News.

A ruling with wide consequences

The ruling could have consequences far beyond Colorado, as more than 20 U.S. states currently ban conversion therapy for minors. Several legal and political observers warned that the decision may weaken protections for LGBTQ+ youth by reframing therapeutic conversations as constitutionally protected speech, including Axios, CNN and the Colorado Times Recorder.

Colorado officials and advocates said the law was designed to protect young people from harmful and discredited practices, not to suppress ideas, as noted by the Colorado Times Recorder and The Christian Century.

Why this matters

Conversion therapy has long been condemned by medical and human-rights organisations, and the U.N. has described such practices as potentially amounting to torture. The Supreme Court’s decision now raises fresh concerns about how far states can go in regulating harmful counseling practices when those practices are presented as speech, according to DW and the Colorado Times Recorder.

Practical context

Broader impact: Could affect similar bans in other U.S. states, according to BBC News, CBS News and Axios.

Case: Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors.

Ruling: U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against the law.

Outcome: Law deemed unconstitutional as applied to talk therapy.

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