Anti-people Supreme Court strikes again
The U.S. Supreme Court just endangered millions of LGBTQIA+ children and youth. With the Chiles v. Salazar ruling on March 31, they opened the door for a resurgence of the discredited, harmful practice of conversion therapy. This is therapy meant to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.
Conversion therapy doesn’t work, but it does cause a lot of harm, including dramatically increasing suicide rates. A 2020 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that youth subjected to it were more than two times as likely to report attempting suicide. They were also 2.5 times as likely to report having attempted suicide multiple times in the past year.
This is the same Supreme Court that struck down abortion rights in 2022 and, in 2024, ruled that cities can punish homeless people for sleeping in public. A 2021 study led by Emory University law professor Joanna Shepherd found that seven out of 10 federal and district court judges were either former prosecutors or corporate lawyers. It is hardly surprising that these unelected judges – appointed to serve corporate power – rule so often against the interests of the people.
Progressive movements shouldn’t be afraid to say it: Abolish the Supreme Court!
What Chiles v. Salazar was about
The case was a challenge to Colorado’s 2019 law prohibiting licensed mental health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on minors, brought by Kaley Chiles, a counselor who describes herself as a Christian. Despite the extensive evidence showing the harm of conversion therapy, Chiles claimed that she has the right to practice it on children and youth.
It is important to understand that she wasn’t on her own. Chiles was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a well-funded far-right non-profit. They had a budget of more than $104 million in 2022 and have an international subsidiary headquartered in Vienna, Austria. House Speaker Mike Johnson is a former ADF attorney. The ADF was involved in the Mississippi case that led to the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Chiles v. Salazar, then, is just one piece in a bigger pattern. The case was brought to the courts as part of a bigger movement to take away people’s rights. And it’s funded by the rich. If Kaley Chiles hadn’t been around, the ADF would have found someone else. This is just one more attack aimed at dividing working-class and oppressed people, so we can’t fight the rich, and they can steal even more from us.
Mental health professionals reject conversion therapy, support Colorado law
Slick representation notwithstanding, Kaley Chiles is out of step with the rest of her profession. The Colorado law is in keeping with established standards of medical care and was endorsed by the American Psychological Association. An Oct. 7, 2025, statement from the APA reads:
“In August 2025, APA filed an amicus brief in support of the law, which was joined by the American Psychiatric Association and 12 other mental health and medical professional organizations. The brief explained the scientific, professional nature of therapy, justified the state’s regulation of professional conduct, and described the scientific evidence of the harms that conversion efforts cause.
“APA presented extensive evidence showing that SOGICE (sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts) do not meet the criteria of a legitimate therapeutic treatment, are potentially harmful, discredited practices, and are not supported by credible scientific evidence. The brief reaffirms APA’s 2009 report findings that SOGICE are ineffective at changing sexual orientation and can pose a risk of harm to individuals who undergo them, with updated 2021 resolutions confirming that SOGICE lack sufficient bases in scientific principles.”
The Colorado law simply says that state-licensed mental health professionals cannot subject minors to conversion therapy. This law concerned licensing only. It didn’t say that anyone can be charged with a crime, only that mental health professionals in Colorado can’t keep their license if they practice a discredited and dangerous therapy.
A reactionary ruling
The court voted 8-1 that the law likely violates First Amendment speech protections, kicking it back down to the lower courts. Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. The other two liberals sided with the MAGA fascists.
What about the freedom of the minors being subjected to conversion therapy? Don’t they have a right not to be harmed by medical practitioners? Don’t they have the right to express who they really are?
But the free speech framing of Chiles v. Salazar is wrong from the start.
Join the Struggle-La Lucha Telegram channel