Colorado licensed counselor Kaley Chiles.
US Supreme Court condemns Colorado’s unconstitutional censorship
High court affirms that government can’t silence voluntary conversations about biological reality in counseling room
Tuesday, Mar 31, 2026
WASHINGTON – In a monumental decision Tuesday for free speech, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that counseling conversations are speech and that states cannot silence viewpoints in the counseling room.
In the case, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and co-counsel Barry Arrington and Shaun Pearman are representing Chiles, who wants to help young people distressed about their gender achieve their chosen goal to grow comfortable with their bodies and avoid harmful drugs and procedures. Colorado’s law forbids her from having those voluntary conversations with her clients under age 18.
“Kids deserve real help affirming that their bodies are not a mistake and that they are wonderfully made. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today is a significant win for free speech, common sense, and families desperate to help their children,” said ADF Chief Legal Counsel Jim Campbell, who argued before the court in October. “States cannot silence voluntary conversations that help young people seeking to grow comfortable with their bodies.”
“When my young clients come to me for counsel, they often want to discuss issues of gender and sexuality. I look forward to being able to help them when they choose the goal of growing comfortable with their bodies,” Chiles said. “Counselors walking alongside these young people shouldn’t be limited to promoting state-approved goals like gender transition, which often leads to harmful drugs and surgeries. The Supreme Court’s ruling is a victory for counselors and, more importantly, kids and families everywhere.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Chiles v. Salazar will help protect counselors from similar laws in more than 20 states and over 100 localities across the country, freeing them to help struggling youth seeking professional guidance.
“We do not doubt that the question ‘how best to help minors’ struggling with issues of gender identity or sexual orientation is presently a subject of ‘fierce public debate.’ But Colorado’s law addressing conversion therapy does not just ban physical interventions,” the court wrote in its opinion. “In cases like this, it censors speech based on viewpoint. Colorado may regard its policy as essential to public health and safety. Certainly, censorious governments throughout history have believed the same. But the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country. It reflects instead a judgment that every American possesses an inalienable right to think and speak freely, and a faith in the free marketplace of ideas as the best means for discovering truth. However well-intentioned, any law that suppresses speech based on viewpoint represents an ‘egregious’ assault on both of those commitments.”
Chiles argued that Colorado’s law violated her freedom of speech by prohibiting licensed counselors like her from engaging in voluntary counseling conversations with clients under age 18 who want to change some expression, behavior, identity, or feeling associated with their “sexual orientation or gender identity.”
On the issue of gender identity, the law only prohibits counseling conversations in one direction. It allows conversations that push young people toward a gender identity different from their sex but prohibits conversations that help them grow comfortable with their body and realign their identity with their sex when they desire to do that. The law also threatens severe penalties, including thousands of dollars in fines, suspension from practice, and even revocation of the counselor’s license. As ADF attorneys point out, this one-sided censorship comes amidst a growing national mental-health crisis and prevents many Colorado children from obtaining the counseling that they desire—and that is likely to help them. Roughly 90% of children who experience gender dysphoria before puberty will regain comfort with their sex if not pushed toward harmful drugs and procedures.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
This article originally published by The Alliance Defending Freedom – Chiles v. Salazar
