WA leads states supporting Colorado law banning conversion ‘therapy’ for minors

SEATTLE – Attorney General Nick Brown today led a multistate coalition in an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court defending a Colorado law that prohibits licensed health professionals from practicing conversion “therapy” on minors.

Conversion “therapy,” also called sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts, are harmful and ineffective practices that attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Colorado’s law prohibits licensed health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on children and youth. The statute was challenged in federal court by a licensed counselor who supports conversion therapy. Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that Colorado is entitled to regulate professional conduct, particularly where there is evidence of harm. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in this case on October 7, 2025.

The amicus brief filed by 20 states and the District of Columbia supports Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy because it is not a safe or effective treatment for any condition, puts youth at risk of serious harms, including increased risks of suicide and depression, and falls below the standard of care for mental health practitioners.

“Based on the consensus view of established medical organizations, over twenty States have codified the conclusion that the practice of conversion therapy on minors always falls below the standard of care for the mental health professions,” the brief reads, in part. “This…is based on voluminous studies demonstrating the practice’s harms to children and the consensus of all leading medical and mental health organizations that conversion therapy should not be conducted on children.”

Washington is one of over 25 states that bans or restricts conversion therapy. The practice is repudiated by all leading medical and mental professional organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association.

The brief outlines why the court should reject the arguments against Colorado’s ban on the practice:

• The First Amendment does not shield dangerous and ineffective mental health practices from regulation, nor does it allow licensed providers to operate below a certain standard of care.
• Such bans are consistent with states’ long history of establishing and regulating professional standards of care.
• Striking down such a ban would likely create profound unintended consequences for states’ authority to regulate professional practices within their borders as they have throughout most of the nation’s history.

Joining Washington on the brief are California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.

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