Kaley Chiles is a Christian counsellor in Colorado. When the condition passed a law forcing mental health professionals to enhance extreme female philosophy, she challenged it. Today, the Supreme Court has agreed to examine the situation— in what could provide a location decision for free speech.
” The state has no firm censoring private conversations between clients and counselors, nor if a counsellor be used as a tool to implement the government’s slanted views on her clients”, said Kristen Waggoner, CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom— which is representing Chiles — in a news release.
Chiles challenged Colorado’s laws banning so-called” change therapy” in 2022, according to The Hill, saying it hindered her efforts to help those with” same-sex attractions or gender identity dilemma” who “prioritize their belief above their thoughts”. She “never promises that she can solve” these issues but works to help clients “accept the bodies that God has given them and find peace”. Chiles sought an injunction, citing the law‘s violation of her First Amendment rights , to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
The 10th Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals ruled against Chiles, but in November, her attorneys petitioned the Supreme Court to consider the case, according to SCOTUSblog.  ,
ADF said the Colorado law violates Chiles ‘ freedom of speech by banning counselors from “having any conversation with clients under age 18 that’ attempts or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.'”
” Significantly, the law only prohibits counseling conversations in one direction”, reads the ADF release. ” For example, it allows counseling conversations that aim to steer young people toward a gender identity different than their sex but prohibits conversations that aim to help them return to comfort with their sex when they desire that”.
Under this law,” conversion therapy” includes “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex”. But it “does not include practices or treatments” that assist with things like “identity exploration and development” and “assistance to a person undergoing gender transition”. ‘ According to the ADF release, the law constitutes “one-sided censorship” . ,
” Colorado’s law prohibits what’s best for these children and sends a clear message: the only option for children struggling with these issues is to give them dangerous and experimental drugs and surgery that will make them lifelong patients”, Waggoner said. ” We are eager to defend Kaley’s First Amendment rights and ensure that government officials may not impose their ideology on private conversations between counselors and clients”.
Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.
