Licensed counselors stay barred from conversion therapy in Colorado

The Tenth Circuit kept Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors in place, ruling that the state’s medical evidence was enough to uphold the law against licensed counselors. The decision leaves those counselors barred from offering the practice to young clients in Colorado.

The Tenth Circuit said the record amply shows the law fits the prevailing medical consensus on conversion therapy and sexual orientation change efforts. That matters because it lets Colorado treat the restriction as a rule for licensed professional conduct, not a speech ban standing alone.

How the court classified the therapy

That distinction does the heavy lifting. If the law were treated as a speech restriction, it would face a harder constitutional fight. The panel instead accepted Colorado’s view that the state is regulating what licensed professionals may do inside the counseling relationship.

The challenge was framed as a First Amendment case, but the court did not read the counseling session as protected speech detached from professional rules.

What families and counselors live with now

For families seeking mental-health care, the practical answer is plain: licensed counselors in Colorado remain barred from providing conversion therapy to minors. State regulators can keep enforcing the ban against professionals working with young patients.

The ruling adds to a wider fight over how far states can go in policing treatment they say is harmful, especially when the treatment is delivered through words.