04/01/2026
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court struck down Colorado's state law banning conversion therapy.
I want to start by saying that Leap Counseling and Consultation is firmly opposed to conversion therapy. Leap Counseling stands with the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, and many professional associations in taking this stance.
What's the deal with conversion therapy?
Conversion therapy is psychological abuse. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has claimed that conversion therapy "may amount to torture." Conversion therapy is rooted in the idea that people who are not heterosexually or cisgender are somehow inferior, wrong, or bad. This "therapy" attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity - something that gender and sexuality experts and researchers will tell you, is impossible. For over a decade, science has continued to show that sexual orientation and gender identity cannot be forcibly changed. The practice is inherently discriminatory and it is well-documented to cause psychological harm.
If you are not of a minority gender or sexuality, try to understand it this way: Think of something that is core to who you are as a person. Something that you cannot change. It could be something you like about yourself, or something you don't. Now imagine that every time you express that part of yourself, you are punished. You are told that part of you is shameful, disgusting, even evil. And yet no matter what you do, that part of you doesn't change.
Some practices are even more brutal. Victims have been given electric shocks, physically beat, or deprived of food. Even those that are less based in aversive stimulus as punishment, create further shame, guilt, self-disgust, and worthlessness.
The bottom line is that conversion therapy is completely ineffective, based in discriminatory beliefs, and psychologically harmful. There is no benefit, only harm.
Conversion therapy is against all psychotherapists' professional ethics, because of the harm it causes to individual clients, as well as justice and discrimination issues.
What was the legal argument?
The argument was that therapy is considered speech and is protected under the First Amendment. I am not a lawyer, but there are SO many problems with this. The Colorado law does not prohibit therapists from speaking however they want about gender in a personal capacity. This is referring to therapeutic treatments provided in a professional capacity.
As stated in an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold Colorado's law, the law should protect the public from any harmful treatments. Just because the treatment in psychotherapy involves speech does not make all therapists exempt to professional responsibilities and legal regulation. This decision certainly makes it sound like it is legally ok for therapists to say whatever we want in psychotherapy, including things that amount to psychological abuse or harm. It is legally ok to violate our professional ethics. At minimum, this opens the door to harm to many many people in the United States.
The hope
Professional organizations and licensing bodies are still opposed to conversion therapy. Leap Counseling and many other individuals, companies, researchers, and professionals will continue to advocate for the rights of LGBTQIA+ adults and kids.
For more information, please review:
United States Joint Statement Against Conversion Efforts: https://tinyurl.com/2ujbm77e
UNHR story on conversion therapy: https://tinyurl.com/p2bnytyp
APA Resolution on sexual identity change efforts: https://tinyurl.com/2s38u7d2
APA Resolution on gender identity change efforts: https://tinyurl.com/2dssy2yx
Amicus brief: https://tinyurl.com/p66cccw9
LGBT persons endure severe pain and long-lasting psychological and physical damage because of so-called ‘conversion therapies’, UN expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz tells the Human Rights Council. He calls for a global ban.
