Weave Statement on Chiles v. Salazar (Conversion Therapy Case)

In light of the spate of media reports misrepresenting the outcome and impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Chiles v. Salazar, Weaving Voices for Health & Justice issued the following statement: 

It has been widely reported that the Supreme Court overturned Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy – and in so doing effectively overturned similar bans in other states. This is emphatically not the case. 

The Court’s decision in Chiles v. Salazar was a narrow ruling, applied to one specific therapist who argued that the ban interfered with her free speech rights. The Supreme Court accepted the premise that free speech issues were in play and instructed the lower court to review the case, applying a strict scrutiny lens to the law. The strict scrutiny standard comes into play when laws restrict protected activities like freedom of speech. It requires the government to show that there is not a less restrictive way of accomplishing an important government goal. 

We believe the Supreme Court was wrong to treat this as a First Amendment case, rather than an appropriate regulation of health care providers. As Justice Jackson stated in her dissent, when “a healthcare professional’s speech is not being targeted ‘as speech’ (because it conveys an idea) but is instead ‘incidentally’ restricted due to a State’s otherwise legitimate regulation of the medical treatments being offered to patients, heightened scrutiny is not warranted.” In this case, “there is zero evidence that Colorado has engaged in the corrosive and illicit suppression of ideas that the First Amendment valiantly repels.” 

While we disagree with the current SCOTUS decision, we believe that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy will withstand a strict scrutiny review. Medical and psychiatric standards indicate that conversion therapy has no scientific grounding and can cause great harm to vulnerable individuals. We believe bans on the practice are appropriate and narrowly tailored to achieve the state’s legitimate goal of ensuring that licensed health professionals act in the best interests of their patients. 

As an organization rooted in gender justice and anti-oppression, Weave stands in solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community and actively rejects systems and policies that cause harm and infringe on their right to equity, justice, and safety. Our core values of gender justice, anti-oppression and cultural humility drive our vision of thriving communities where gender, race, sexuality, zip code, income level, or job does not determine our health outcomes.