The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday in a case involving a Colorado counselor who could face punishment for helping a child address gender confusion without endorsing transgender procedures.
The case centers on Colorado’s 2019 state law that bans counselors from engaging in counseling that “attempts or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” Counselor Kaley Chiles has argued that the law is a violation of the First Amendment.
“When my young clients come to me for counsel, they often want to discuss issues of gender and sexuality. Yet my home state only allows my clients to pursue state-approved goals like gender transition,” she said. “Colorado’s law harms kids and censors speech. I’m hopeful the Supreme Court will do the right thing — for me, other counselors, and most importantly, kids everywhere.”
Chiles is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has argued that the state is engaging in censorship.
“This case is about censorship. The state of Colorado is censoring counselor speech on the issue of gender ideology,” Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer Kate Anderson said in a press call, according to The Daily Wire. “Colorado is saying that if a counselor is going to speak with a minor, have a private, voluntary counseling session with a minor, and that minor is dealing with any kind of gender ideology, confusion, then that counselor has to encourage transition.”
“They can’t have conversations with that minor to help them become comfortable in their own body and align their feelings with their biology, even if that’s what that minor wants,” she added.
Anderson compared the case to a 2018 decision where the Supreme Court sided with the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates after it challenged a California law that required crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about abortion services. She said that precedent, along with evidence questioning the medical basis of transgender procedures, will likely play a role in arguments before the Court.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals previously upheld Colorado’s counseling restriction. However, the 11th Circuit struck down similar bans in cities in Florida. In recent years, the Supreme Court has been skeptical of laws supporting transgender procedures, including allowing states to prohibit them for minors.
