Colorado: judge upholds "conversion therapy" ban
Date postedJanuary 4, 2023
A district court judge has upheld Colorado's Minor Therapy Conversion Law, prohibiting mental health prractitioners from emgaging in "conversion therapy" for minors who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or gender non-conforming. A request for injunction against the law claimed that it unconstitutionally regulates speech rather than conduct and therefore violates free speech rights. The court ruled that the law does regulate professional conduct - the plaintiff "may engage in therapeutic practices related to any minor client's distress, under the limited condition that her therapeutic assistance to a client's distress 'does not seek to change sexual orientation or gender identity."