Christian Law Firm Argues That Conversion Therapy Is Helpful, Actually

"On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a challenge to a 2019 Colorado law banning so-called "conversion therapy" and, wouldn't you know it, it appears the justices will rule that it violates the free speech rights of counselors who believe in the dangerous practice-a decision that could affect similar laws in roughly two dozen states. That was the takeaway after about 90 minutes of arguments in which far-right lawyers claimed conversion therapy is good for cisgender children and Justice Sam Alito invoked eugenics."

"States should be allowed to ban licensed medical providers from engaging in the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity- which has documented harms, even when it's "just" talk therapy-but this court has warped the First Amendment in recent years to favor conservative viewpoints. Integral in that project has been Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian nationalist law firm that represents the counselor, Kaley Chiles, challenging the Colorado law."

"ADF helped overturn Roe v. Wade and is assisting states as they defend bans on youth gender-affirming care and trans kids participating in school sports. ADF also brought the notorious 2023 case of a Colorado web designer, Lorie Smith, who claimed that an antidiscrimination law violated her speech rights because she might have to make wedding websites for gay couples, which would be against her Christian beliefs."

"Except she never got in trouble for refusing to make a wedding website for a gay couple, because she never had such clients, and actually, had never made a wedding website. The man she claimed asked her to make a site for him and his fiancée in 2016 is straight, and he said he never contacted the designer. Smith asked the court to strike down the law based on hypothetical harm down the line-which is not how litigation is supposed to work-but she still got the justices to bulldoze protections for queer people."

The Supreme Court heard a challenge to Colorado's 2019 ban on conversion therapy and appears likely to find the law violates counselors' free speech rights, potentially affecting similar statutes in about two dozen states. Conversion therapy is characterized as a pseudoscientific practice with documented harms to sexual orientation and gender identity, including when delivered as talk therapy. Alliance Defending Freedom represents the plaintiff and has been central to litigation that advanced conservative social agendas. ADF previously helped overturn Roe v. Wade, defends bans on gender-affirming care, and pursued a contentious web-designer free-speech case with dubious factual claims.

Read at Jezebel