"Midway through Tuesday's arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked a question that stripped away the veneer of constitutional principle from the Supreme Court's latest blatant culture war. Last term, she noted, the court upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Now, in Chiles, the same court seemed poised to strike down Colorado's ban on "conversion therapy" for minors."
"Both regulations "work in basically the same way," she noted, prohibiting treatments designed to change a child's gender expression. The difference is that Tennessee aims to erase transgender identity, while Colorado seeks to affirm it. "I'm just, from a very broad perspective, concerned," Jackson said, "about making sure that we have equivalence with respect to these things." Does the Constitution really take sides in this battle, blessing states that discriminate against transgender youth while condemning those that protect them?"
"As interpreted by this Supreme Court, the short answer is yes: The Constitution does little to protect LGBTQ+ rights and much to subvert them. There is little doubt that the Republican-appointed justices will use Chiles to weaken or destroy protections against conversion therapy for minors. In the process, they may insist that they are simply following neutral principles wherever they lead and will safeguard pro-LGBTQ+ speech in the future too."
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson highlighted inconsistency as the Court treated Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors differently from Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for minors. The Court upheld Tennessee's ban but appears poised to strike down Colorado's ban despite both prohibiting treatments aimed at changing a child's gender expression. The Republican-appointed majority is likely to use Chiles to weaken or eliminate protections against conversion therapy for minors while claiming neutral constitutional principles. The Court's rulings effectively reduce constitutional protection for LGBTQ+ rights and empower religious-right interests. Chiles targets laws barring licensed counselors from attempting to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity. About half the states have enacted such laws.
Read at Slate Magazine
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