On October 7th, the Supreme Court appeared to hear a case proposed by Kaley Chiles, a Christian therapist. Chiles argued that the Colorado ban against conversion therapy for people under the age of eighteen by licensed mental health professionals infringes her free speech rights under the First Amendment.

Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to make non-heterosexual and/or non-cisgender individuals identify as cis and/or straight. Tactics to achieve this can range from talk therapy, aversion therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy, to isolation from support systems and shaming, to even physical, sexual, and medical abuse. Minors are particularly vulnerable to this because they are at the mercy of their parents’ opinions and views on their sexuality.

According to the Trevor Project’s 2023 national survey “15% of LGBTQ+ young people reported being threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy, including nearly 1 in 5 transgender and nonbinary young people.” It is widely discredited by numerous medical organizations. In 2012 the Pan American Health Organization stated that conversion therapies had no medical justifications and represented a severe threat to the health and human rights of victims.

Conversion therapy can create lasting damage and lead to depression, anxiety, substance use, self esteem issues, homelessness, and physical health problems such as high blood pressure and increased systemic inflammation. Conversion therapy can even lead to the unthinkable, suicide. A 2020 peer reviewed study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, conducted by researchers from The Trevor Project found that “individuals who reported undergoing conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to report having attempted suicide and more than 2.5 times as likely to report multiple suicide attempts in the past year.” A ruling against the state could affect the many states and cities that have similar conversion therapy bans in place, endangering the well being and lives of many young queer and trans youth.

This case seems like another step in the direction of Trump’s administration’s new focus on the LGBTQ+ community, which according to US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in a letter to health systems in May, that health providers should not rely on science-based guidelines for transgender children, but should instead follow the highly controversial HSS report on the current care and treatment of gender dysphoria in minors. This report states that the only treatments trans youth should be receiving are psychotherapeutic praises, including gender exploratory therapies which discourage gender affirmation and instead tries to “help children and adolescents come to terms with their bodies.” The report also equates the often crippling discomfort and distress they feel associated with their bodies and gender as normal, stating “discomfort with the sexed body or with societal based expectations is common during puberty and adolescence.”

If the ban is lifted, it opens the door to a much larger reach of people who will be able to enact these practices on children. With more and more restrictions on gender affirming care and support in general, one is left to wonder what is in store for the future of the LGBTQ+ community.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/07/conversion-therapy-
ban-supreme-court-adf#:~:text=US%20supreme%20court-

,US%20supreme%20court%20appears%20poised%20to%20overturn%20C
olorado%20ban%20on,laws%20vulnerable%20to%20similar%20challenges.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/07/health/conversion-therapy-
court#:~:text=Demonstrators%20protest%20against%20conversion%20th

erapy,conversion%20therapy%20in%20the%20US.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-weighs-
challenge-bans-conversion-therapy-aimed-lgbtq-kid-rcna235192

https://www.hrc.org/resources/the-lies-and-dangers-of-reparative-therapy

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-
suicide/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2020/07/conversion-therapy-can-amount-
torture-and-should-be-banned-says-un-
expert#:~:text=For%20the%20expert%2C%20children%20and%20young

%20people,form%20of%20deception%2C%20false%20advertising%20and
%20fraud.