Licensed counselors stay barred from conversion therapy in Colorado

The Tenth Circuit said Colorado can keep enforcing its conversion-therapy ban for minors because the law turns on the therapy a counselor practices, not on the words used in session. That makes the rule a regulation of professional treatment, not a ban on protected speech. For licensed counselors in Colorado, the ruling leaves the state’s restrictions in place when they work with young clients.

Inside Colorado’s licensing power

That framing matters because the state is regulating what licensed professionals may provide inside its licensing system. The court treated conversion therapy as conduct in the course of mental-health practice, which gives Colorado room to police the treatment itself even though counseling is delivered through conversation.

The case sits inside a broader First Amendment fight over where the line falls between speech and treatment. The court’s reasoning says the constitutional question is not whether a counselor speaks, but whether the state is regulating the therapy being offered.