Kaley Chiles, a licensed Christian counselor in Colorado, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review her free speech case. Her aim is to prevent enforcement of Colorado’s 2019 Minor Conversion Therapy Law (MCTL), which restricts counselors from offering guidance aligned with a Biblical worldview and selectively limits the free speech of individuals offering faith-based counsel.

Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Chiles initially filed a lawsuit in September 2022, arguing that the MCTL violates both the Free Speech Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. In the petition, Chiles informed the court that the law prevents her from helping families and individuals who wish to “uphold a Biblical worldview which includes the concepts that attractions do not dictate behavior, nor do feelings and perceptions determine identity.” She said her clients experiencing unwanted “same-sex attractions or gender identity confusion … are seeking to live a life consistent with their faith” and that when prevented from doing so, these clients can experience “internal conflicts, depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders and so forth.”

She clarified that her counseling seeks to support clients in achieving their personal goals, which may include reducing unwanted attractions, modifying behaviors, or finding harmony with their physical body.

However, on Sept. 12, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the MCTL, arguing that the law’s primary purpose is to regulate the “professional conduct of mental health professionals,” and that “[a]ny speech affected by the [MCTL] is incidental to the professional conduct it regulates.” This ruling effectively sidestepped the free speech issue by classifying it as a matter of professional conduct. In response, Chiles and her ADF attorneys escalated the case to the Supreme Court on Nov. 8.

“The government has no business censoring private conversations between clients and counselors, nor should a counselor be used as a tool to impose the government’s biased views on her clients,” said ADF Legal Counsel Cody Barnett. “As Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a similar case, even though these types of laws are ‘viewpoint-based … discrimination in its purest form,’ the federal appeals courts are currently divided 2–2 over whether they are valid. We are urging the Supreme Court to hear Kaley’s case, resolve the split, and stop Colorado officials from banning someone’s speech simply because they disagree with her beliefs. All Americans should be allowed to speak freely and seek the best possible help they desire.”

Under the MCTL, Chiles and other counselors who offer faith-based guidance risk fines of up to $5,000 per violation and potential loss of their counseling licenses.

Further, ADF says the MCTL demonstrates overt bias against Christians by only prohibiting counsel that aligns with a Biblical worldview while offering no restrictions on mental health professional interested in guiding clients toward a gender identity that conflicts with their biological sex.

As the petition filed last week explains, “[a]midst an unprecedented mental-health crisis among this country’s young people,” the Sept. 12 decision “prevents vulnerable individuals in many states from obtaining the counseling they desire and desperately need.”

Above: counselor Kaley Chiles

Photo: Alliance Defending Freedom