Wire
Tenth Circuit lets Colorado keep barring conversion therapy for minors
Kaley Chiles lost her challenge after the Tenth Circuit said state law may still limit how licensed counselors treat minors. The ruling gives Colorado another win in a growing split over whether these bans are conduct rules or speech rules.
A licensed Colorado counselor, Kaley Chiles, lost her appeal after the Tenth Circuit said the state may keep barring conversion therapy for minors when it is delivered by licensed professionals. The court treated the law as a rule about professional conduct, not a ban on private beliefs or debate.
That distinction matters because it changes the constitutional fight. If the state is regulating conduct, it has more room to set professional standards. If the same counseling is treated as speech, the First Amendment challenge becomes much harder for the state to win.
A line between therapy and speech
The panel said laws prohibiting licensed therapists from practicing conversion therapies on minors are regulations on conduct that only incidentally involve speech. In doing so, the court said it was joining the Ninth Circuit’s view.
For Colorado, that means the restriction can still be enforced against licensed therapists working with young people. The decision does not end the broader debate over these bans, but it does place the state on firmer constitutional ground than if the court had treated every counseling session as protected speech.
Why the split matters
The Tenth Circuit’s ruling goes the other way from the Eleventh Circuit, which has taken a stricter view of similar laws. That split matters because it changes how much protection states must clear before they can regulate conversion therapy.
For families and counselors, the immediate practical effect is simple: Colorado’s ban remains enforceable against licensed professionals who try to use therapy to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity.