Is This Our Death Knell?

The First Monday Of October.
The Supreme Court will hear, Chiles v. Salazar, the Court and will consider the question of whether a Colorado law banning “conversion therapy”—i.e., attempts to “convert” someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity—violate the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The case is only about children, adults can make their own choices but children can't. GLAD writes;

Chiles v. Salazar
Status: Pending

In Chiles v. Salazar, a licensed Colorado therapist filed a lawsuit against the state’s law protecting youth from conversion therapy, arguing it violates her right to free speech. 

Conversion therapy refers to practices that try to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Studies show that conversion therapy practices are unproven, unscientific, and increase the risk of suicide attempts, depression, and anxiety.

Laws like Colorado’s have broad bipartisan and religious support. Youth are protected from conversion therapy in 23 states, plus the District of Columbia. An additional four states have laws that partially protect youth from conversion therapy. Only five states have a law, budget, or court ruling that prohibits or deters local-level laws protecting youth from conversion therapy.

This case is not good! It is really horrible depending on how they rule. They are framing the legal challenge on the the First Amendment but that should not be the issue under question... the question will the repeal of conversion therapy cause harm to the children?

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups file brief defending Colorado conversion therapy ban for minors
U.S. Supreme Court will hear case challenging 2019 law in October
Colorado Newsline
By: Lindsey Toomer
August 28, 2025

A group of Colorado and national LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations filed an amicus brief this week defending Colorado’s 2019 law banning conversion therapy for minors in a case challenging the law before the U.S. Supreme Court.

One Colorado and Rocky Mountain Equality, two Colorado-based LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, as well as PFLAG, the National Center for Youth Law, the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, the National Health Law Program, and Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Elders filed the brief arguing that the conduct of health care professionals is subject to regulation by the state and outlining the proven harms of conversion therapy on LGBTQ+ youth. 

“As organizations that have worked with LGBTQ survivors of conversion therapy, amici are well acquainted with the severe, long-term harm that conversion therapy causes for individuals, families, and communities,” the brief reads. “Colorado’s statute protecting minors from conversion therapy by licensed professionals is not only a reasonable means of addressing these harms, it directly and narrowly advances important, and indeed compelling, governmental interests.”

As Anita Bryant always said... it is about the children! It is not about the parents rights!

“Conversion therapy is not therapy, it is abuse,” Parker said in a statement. “Colorado’s law is a carefully crafted, evidence-based safeguard that ensures LGBTQ youth receive care and support that protects, rather than harms.”

The brief filed by the advocacy organizations argues that conversion therapy “divides youth from their families and promotes parental rejection of LGBTQ children.” It says the resulting family rejection harms LGBTQ youth in ways that can persist into adulthood, affecting their physical and mental health.

I know a trans man who to this day still suffer from PTSD in their 60s.
The final word... is from the American Psychological Association (APA)...

Since 1998, the American Psychiatric Association has opposed any psychiatric treatment, such as "reparative" or conversion therapy, which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or that a patient should change his/her homosexual orientation1. This position statement updates and replaces previous position statements about conversion therapy regarding sexual orientation, furthermore it also comments on conversion therapy with gender diverse patients in an attempt to prevent harm to any lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer person. In the past, diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity (e.g. homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender identities) were seen as a mental illness. This changed in 1973 when the American Psychiatric Association stated that homosexuality per se is not a mental disorder2. While Gender Dysphoria remains a part of the DSM-5, there is growing social acceptance that human sexuality and gender identity can present in a variety of ways as part of the human condition.

I fear that the court will ignore the children and focus on the adults "Religious Freedom" and ignore the rights and the health of the children!