Weiser Defends Censorship of Conversations Between Therapists and Clients at Supreme Court

By Ashley Michels | KDVR Fox 31

DENVER (KDVR) — The state of Colorado and a licensed counselor from Colorado Springs are each preparing to argue before the United States Supreme Court.

Last week, the Supreme Court set the date for when it will consider a case from Colorado involving free speech. On Tuesday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed the state’s merits brief, which lays out the state’s argument for why the court should rule in Colorado’s favor.

“This is a broad principle and the principle that we are standing on is states have the police power right to protect our citizens against substandard care,” Weiser said in a virtual press conference.

The case Chiles v. Salazar focuses on a 2019 state law banning conversion therapy for minors. Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor from Colorado Springs, is suing the executive director of Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies, Patty Salazar, alleging Colorado law unfairly restricts Chiles’ First Amendment rights.

“When Chiles counsels young people with gender dysphoria, Colorado allows her to speak if she helps them embrace a transgender identity. But if those clients choose to align their sense of identity with their sex by growing comfortable with their bodies, Chiles must remain silent or risk losing her license, her livelihood, and the career she loves,” the brief for the petitioner says.

The brief goes on to question “whether a law that censors certain conversations between counselors and their clients based on the viewpoints expressed regulates conduct or violates the Free Speech Clause.”

“There has never been a First Amendment objection to protecting patients and prohibiting substandard of care, regardless of whether the care is carried out through words,” Weiser said.

According to Weiser, conversion therapy consists of “pressure tactics” or other advocacy from a counselor regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Someone who is gay, someone who is a lesbian, being told that what you believe you are is wrong and trying to change who you are, who you love, that is the so-called gay conversion practice that is now discredited,” Weiser said.

Weiser says Chiles and other counselors can legally talk with children and teen patients about conversion therapy and options for legally getting that specific type of care. It becomes illegal, Weiser says, when counselors in Colorado employ the therapeutic technique themselves.

“The only thing the law addresses is prohibiting therapists from providing substandard of care that would seek to change a patient’s sexual or gender identity,” Weiser said.

The Supreme Court currently has a conservative majority. Weiser acknowledges that right-leaning justices may not be immediately sympathetic to the state’s argument. He says the state will use precedent to argue the case.

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