WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper joined 187 of his Congressional colleagues to file an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of Colorado’s ban on mental health professionals engaging in conversion therapy for minors in the case of Chiles v. Salazar.
“[Conversion therapy] practices are not only harmful, providing them is violative of medical ethics,” wrote the lawmakers. “The public must be able to trust that when they seek treatment, their health professional will provide competent services in accordance with modern standards of medicine.”
The petitioner in this case is a licensed professional counselor who filed a challenge against Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy, arguing that the ban violates her freedom of speech. In their brief, the lawmakers argue that the Colorado law is constitutional, highlighting that legislatures have historically regulated professional conduct carried out by means of language to enforce compliance with professional standards. Their brief also emphasizes how courts have historically upheld federal and state statutes regulating professional conduct that incidentally involves speech.
“Conversion therapy” refers to a range of discredited practices that have long been known to cause significant and lasting psychological harm to patients by purportedly forcing patients to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. These practices are often aimed at minors. Evidence shows that LGBTQ+ youth who undergo conversion therapy are more than twice as likely to report having attempted suicide compared to those who did not.
All major U.S. medical or mental healthcare associations have condemned conversion therapy, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
“Conversion therapy has no place in any therapeutic setting. It is long-disproven, unethical, and deeply traumatic to the young people forced to endure it,” said Jennifer Pike Bailey, Director of Government Affairs, Human Rights Campaign. “Thank you to the Members of Congress who are standing with LGBTQ+ youth and their families in urging the Supreme Court to uphold Colorado’s protections against conversion therapy.”
The text of the amicus brief is available HERE.
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