Kaley Chiles is a Christian counselor that wants to help people who voluntarily come to her with unwanted same-sex attractions or gender identity issues. Colorado does not allow this to occur and refers to it as conversion therapy.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments about the court case, known as Chiles v. Salazar, on October 7.
Cody Barnett is an attorney of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the law firm representing Chiles. He expressed their excitement for the Supreme Court taking on the critical issue of whether a state can censor a counselor.
"We are living in a time when parents and children across the country want and desperately need the kind of counseling that folks like Kaley Chiles want to provide, and yet just because Colorado disagrees with that counseling, it has censored it," Barnett says.
By taking this case, Barnett thinks the Supreme Court wants to "correct that error" and rule in Kaley's favor.
"The Supreme Court has been clear that the First Amendment applies and that it applies to professionals, and just because someone has a professional license, it does not mean that they check their free speech rights at the door,” states Barnett. “I think the fact that they have taken this case up is a strong signal that they are going to affirm that protection also includes counselors like Kaley Chiles.”
A decision would most likely come by June 2026 since the case will not be argued until the next term begins this October.
According to Barnett, there are 20 other states and 100 smaller jurisdictions who have similar laws in place.
"So, this case has the potential to impact all of those and to free up counselors across the country. It allows them to be able to freely speak to the clients and allow clients to freely pursue the goals that they want with their counselor without having the state sit in the counseling room, metaphorically. This way the state can’t direct them on what type of counseling is okay, what views are okay, or what type of identifies they should prioritize," Barnett explains.
Based on that, Barnett called this case "critical" for counselors, parents, and children across the country, not to mention any professional.
"If Colorado can censor what a counselor says, then any state can censor anything a professional does by just calling it conduct, which is what Colorado has done in this case," says Barnett. "So, this has implications that ripple far beyond Colorado and even beyond the counseling room itself."
