Colorado's conversion-therapy ban survives harm test

Minors in Colorado remain covered by the state’s ban on conversion therapy after a federal appeals court said the state could point to medical evidence, including suicide-risk concerns, to defend it.

The opinion also accepted Colorado's view that the legislature had considered medical evidence about conversion therapy and sexual-orientation change efforts, along with their harms, when it passed the law. That gave the state a basis to argue that the restriction protects minors from ineffective and harmful therapeutic modalities.

Why the record mattered

For families and counselors, the practical effect is simple: the law stays backed by a judicial finding that the state can point to documented harm rather than speculation. The court said Colorado could rely on potential injury and suicide-risk evidence in defending the restriction.

That matters because the fight was never just about labels. It was about whether a state could treat a disputed counseling practice as something it has reason to restrict when the scientific record, in the court's telling, points the other way.