Is the Supreme Court Teeing Up a Broader Attack on LGBTQ Rights?

The case comes from Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor in Colorado Springs with a master’s degree in clinical mental health. She practices talk therapy and does not prescribe medications or other medical treatments. The conflict arises from the fact that her religious beliefs are inextricably linked to her therapeutic practices. “Chiles views her work as an outgrowth of her Christian faith,” her lawyers told the court in their brief. “Many of her clients are also Christians who seek her help because of their shared religious beliefs.”

Among those whom Chiles treats are, in her words, “young people with various mental-health struggles, including issues related to trauma, personality disorders, addiction, eating disorders, gender dysphoria, and sexuality.” Some of those young clients “desire counseling—sometimes based on their faith—‘to reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions, change sexual behaviors, or grow in the experience of harmony with physical body,’” she told the court, and she helps them pursue those “desires and objectives.”

In 2019, Colorado enacted a law that banned conversion therapy for minors. Licensed therapists and other medical professionals in the state who use treatments that attempt to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity can be punished with fines and disciplinary measures by the relevant medical boards. The law included exceptions for both religious ministers and for unlicensed counselors.