State’s Rule Cracking Down On Christian Gender Counseling Runs Afoul Of Supreme Court Ruling, Group Says

Held: Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy, as applied to Ms. Chiles’s talk therapy, regulates speech based on viewpoint, and the lower courts erred by failing to apply sufficiently rigorous First Amendment scrutiny.... The law permits her to express acceptance and support for clients exploring their identity or undergoing gender transition ... but forbids her from saying anything that attempts to change a client’s 'sexual orientation or gender identity.'

The Court held that, as applied to the counselor’s talk therapy, the Colorado law regulates speech based on viewpoint... The law defines conversion therapy to include any practice or treatment that attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.

The act prohibits a licensed... mental health care provider from engaging in conversion therapy with a patient under 18 years of age... 'Conversion therapy' means any practice or treatment... that attempts or purports to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity... The law allows 'acceptance, support, and understanding for the facilitation of an individual's coping, social support, and identity exploration and development' and 'assistance to a person undergoing gender transition.'

Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law ... is constitutional under the First Amendment because it does not regulate speech, but professional conduct that falls below the standard of care.

The high court ruled 8-1 that Colorado's law, when applied to talk therapy provided by counselor Kaley Chiles, regulates speech based on viewpoint.

Employ[] or promot[e] any intervention or method that has the purpose of attempting to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. This does not include counseling that assists a client who is seeking to undergo a gender transition ... or counseling that provides a client with acceptance, support, understanding, or that facilitates a client's ... identity exploration or development.

The Rule ... declares it 'unprofessional conduct' for any licensee to 'Employ[] or promot[e] any intervention or method that has the purpose of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.' Plaintiffs allege the Rule prevents them from providing verbal advice ... to align a patient's gender identity with their biological sex.

The Court held that Colorado's conversion‑therapy ban, as applied to talk therapy, regulates speech based on viewpoint and must be reviewed under strict scrutiny.

WILL Deputy Counsel Rebecca Furdek: 'The Wisconsin administrative rule bans counselors from offering certain perspectives in private, voluntary talk therapy sessions ...' (article attributes this contention to WILL).

Discusses WIS. ADMIN. CODE MPSW § 20.02(25) as the Board rule banning conversion therapy by licensees and describes the rule's promulgation and subsequent challenges.