Washington ban of conversion therapy likely overturned by Supreme Court ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court decision that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth is unconstitutional and violates the rights of a Christian conservative therapist likely will invalidate similar laws in nearly two dozen states, including Washington.

Following the ruling on Tuesday, state lawmakers said they would evaluate how it would affect Washington’s law on the matter.

Supporters of the decision praised it as a victory for the freedoms of speech and religion. But some LGBTQ+ organizations said it puts youth across the country at risk.

Passed by the Colorado Legislature in 2019, the law banned mental health providers from providing conversion therapy for those under 18 years old. Religious entities and family members’ therapy were exempt from the ban.

Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to align someone’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression with heterosexual and cisgender norms. It is widely discredited, including by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association.

In September 2022, Kaley Chiles, a Christian therapist, challenged the law in Colorado, arguing that it violated her First Amendment rights and could harm both clients and providers. In an 8-1 decision, the court ruled that the ban regulated speech, not conduct, and was not comparable to other healthcare regulations that regulate conduct.

“The First Amendment stands as a bulwark against any effort to prescribe an orthodoxy of views, reflecting a belief that each American enjoys an inalienable right to speak his mind and a faith in the free marketplace of ideas as the best means for finding truth,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the decision. “Laws like Colorado’s, which suppress speech based on viewpoint, represent an egregious assault on both commitments.”

Jim Campbell, who represents Chiles and argued before the court in October, said in a statement that the ruling was a “significant win for free speech, common sense, and families desperate to help their children.”

“States cannot silence voluntary conversations that help young people seeking to grow comfortable with their bodies,” Campbell said.

Following the ruling, Chiles said her young clients “often want to discuss issues of gender and sexuality.”

“I look forward to being able to help them when they choose the goal of growing comfortable with their bodies,” Chiles said. “Counselors walking alongside these young people shouldn’t be limited to promoting state-approved goals like gender transition, which often leads to harmful drugs and surgeries.”

The law firm that represented Chiles said the ruling would “help protect counselors from similar laws” in more than 20 states and over 100 local jurisdictions.

The ruling could ripple through the 22 states throughout the country that have passed similar legislation, and last summer Washington Attorney General Nick Brown sought to defend both the Colorado law and a similar law in Michigan.

A spokesperson for Brown said Tuesday the office is still reviewing the impact the ruling could have in the state.

In 2018, Washington lawmakers approved a similar ban on conversion therapy that barred the practice for those under the age of 18, becoming the 10th state to prohibit the practice. Like in Colorado, those who violate Washington’s law could face fines, a suspension from practice and revocation of their professional license.

Following its passage, supporters said the ban sent a clear message to LGBTQ+ youth that conversion therapy could have damaging effects, and that the legislation sent a message that young people would be accepted for who they are.

Washington’s law was then challenged by a counselor in Pierce County, Brian Tingley, in 2021, who argued the restrictions violated his freedom of speech and religious freedom. Tingley’s lawsuit was rejected by a federal district court judge and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In December 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Tingley was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group that also represented Chiles in her successful lawsuit. The group has a history of defending clients who feel state laws across the country infringe on their constitutional protections. Last year, the ADF represented a group of Orthodox churches that argued a state law requiring clergy to be mandatory reporters would violate privileged communications.

While the case brought against Washington state was not heard by the Supreme Court, last summer Brown led multi-state coalitions in filing briefs defending bans on conversion therapy in both Colorado and Michigan. The briefs argued that the First Amendment does not shield “dangerous and ineffective mental health,” and that states have a long history of regulating professional standards of care. In both briefs, the states argued that overturning the bans would “likely lead to significant consequences for states’ authority to regulate professional practices.”

In a statement Tuesday, the Washington State Legislative LGBTQ Caucus said it would “evaluate” how the ruling impacted the state’s law.

“Today’s SCOTUS ruling against Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors only puts queer youth at more risk of serious harm,” the statement says. “Conversion therapy is ineffective, unsafe, and traumatizing for kids who are forced to endure it, and that is why all our leading medical and mental health professional organizations reject this dangerous, discredited practice.”

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who joined 185 other lawmakers in a brief urging the United States Supreme Court to uphold the Colorado conversion therapy ban, called on Congress to ban the practice nationwide.

“Conversion therapy is a dangerous practice based on the hateful idea that being part of the LGBTQ+ community is an illness that requires treatment – it’s child abuse,” Murray said in a statement. “Conversion therapy should be banned nationwide, and I have a bill to do just that because there is no real debate in the medical community – the overwhelming majority of mental health care providers know how harmful this practice is.”

Following the ruling on Tuesday, LGBTQ+ rights groups argued it weakened protections for youth from the harmful therapy.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling limited Colorado’s statute that pre-emptively shielded minors from conversion therapy, but it leaves open avenues for states to protect families from harmful, unscrupulous, and misleading practices that divide parents from their children and put LGBTQ+ youth at risk,” Polly Crozier, Director of Family Advocacy at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, said in a statement.

Jaymes Black, CEO of LGBTQ+ youth advocacy nonprofit the Trevor Project, condemned the ruling in a statement and said it would put young people at risk.

“The Court’s decision today is painful, but it does not change the facts: conversion therapy is dangerous, it is malpractice, and survivors still have the ability to seek justice for the harms caused by these practices,” Black said.