This autumn, the Supreme Court began hearings in Chiles v Salazar, a case about conversion therapy bans. To understand more about what’s at stake, Family Equality’s Senior Manager of Child Welfare Policy chimes in. 

Some of the hardest conversations I’ve had as a therapist working with LGBTQ+ youth in foster care start with a quiet question: “Can you help me stop being this way?” The honest answer is that there’s nothing to “stop.” Kids deserve care that helps them feel safe, seen, and whole – not pressured to change who they are. That’s why this fall’s Supreme Court arguments on Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors matter so deeply. Early reporting indicates several justices seemed skeptical of the law during oral argument, raising the risk that key safeguards could be rolled back.

Chiles v. Salazar is a case that asks whether Colorado can prohibit licensed providers from subjecting minors to efforts to change their sexual orientation or gender identity – or whether such restrictions violate the First Amendment. The Supreme Court heard arguments for the case this October, and a decision is expected this term. 

Colorado’s conversion therapy ban has been on the books since 2019. It prohibits licensed mental-health professionals from subjecting minors to efforts to change their sexual orientation or gender identity and makes violations subject to licensing discipline and fines. Two dozen jurisdictions rely on similar protections, so a ruling against Colorado could invite challenges that roll back safeguards nationwide, just as conflicting lower-court rulings have already teed up the issue.

Many of us might already be familiar with the concept of conversion therapy. But it’s always helpful to dispel myths in an era of misinformation. If you’re already familiar with the issue, share this with a friend who isn’t. 

Conversion therapy involves attempts by licensed providers to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It does not include ethical, client-centered counseling that supports a youth’s wellbeing without trying to change who they are or their beliefs.

In short, conversion “therapy” isn’t therapy. It’s a set of discredited attempts to make someone straight or cisgender. Major medical and mental-health organizations have rejected it as harmful and ineffective, and several states have passed bans on the practice. 

Data shows clearly that when LGBTQ+ youth are pressured by conversion therapists to change in ways that are impossible, they are more than twice as likely to report attempting suicide.

Ethical, evidence-aligned care affirms a youth’s identity, strengthens family support when safe, and connects young people with resources — fulfilling a clinician’s responsibility to reduce harm and promote well-being. 

During arguments, the challengers framed talk therapy as mere speech, distinct from “medical treatment.” That framing ignores how therapy actually works. In counseling rooms, especially with adolescents, words are treatment. Young people are pliable and highly sensitive to what a credible messenger says. When a therapist – someone with authority – labels being gay or trans as something to “fix,” that message doesn’t vanish when the session ends. It burrows in. That isn’t neutral speech; it’s a harmful clinical intervention disguised as counsel. 

As providers, we develop treatment plans. We set goals, apply techniques, and measure outcomes, just like any branch of healthcare. Misdiagnosing a core part of a young person’s identity and “treating” it is malpractice of the mind, and every bit as serious as prescribing the wrong medication or performing the wrong surgery. Regulation of professional treatment, including talk therapy, has always fallen within the state’s responsibility to protect patients from harm.

This issue is particularly relevant to LGBTQ+ youth in foster care. LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented in foster care and often cycle through placements where adults may lack training – or hold religious beliefs – about LGBTQ+ identities. Many foster and adoption providers are faith-based agencies, and in several states, religious-exemption laws allow contractors to act according to their beliefs. In these settings, untrained or biased adults can cloak conversion efforts as counseling, pastoral care, or “family therapy.” Family Equality’s child welfare policy hub explains how we work to ensure safe, affirming placements, and why federal and state rules must be explicit.

Even the best state protections are vulnerable to court decisions and shifting politics. That’s why Family Equality champions the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act (ECDF), a federal bill that would, among other things, bar conversion therapy in foster care, prohibit discrimination in child welfare, require better data collection for youth in care, and establish a national child welfare resource center. Our ECDF policy page lays it out plainly; the ECDF campaign site offers tools to learn more and take action. 

Learn more about the Every Child Deserves a Family Act and join the campaign today! 

Whether the setting is a clinician’s office, a group home, or a foster family’s living room, credible messengers shape how young people see themselves. When that message says “you are broken,” it harms. When it says “you are whole,” it heals. The profession settled this more than thirty years ago: attempts to change who a child is are not best practice. They’re harmful. As we await the Supreme Court’s decision, it’s crucial to remember the human stakes beyond the legal arguments. The LGBTQ+ young people at the heart of this issue aren’t abstract symbols in a culture war – they are real children and teens who deserve love and support. They thrive when they are accepted, and they suffer when adults try to “change” them. No court case should erase the decades of progress we’ve made in understanding that simple truth.