In a move that could undermine an Anchorage law that bans counselors from helping minors reduce or overcome unwanted LGBTQ sexual attractions, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case in which a professional counselor in Colorado is seeking to continue helping clients talk about various issues without being forced to promote the government’s pro-LGBTQ gender ideology.
The case involves counselor Kaley Chiles, who helps clients with various issues, including gender identity. Many of Chiles’ clients come to her because they share her Christian worldview and faith-based values. These clients believe their lives will be more fulfilling if they are aligned with the teachings of their faith. Yet Colorado law – like Anchorage – censors Chiles from sharing certain perspectives.
After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld Colorado’s law, the nation’s high court is now set to weigh in.
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The outcome could undermine Anchorage’s current ban on counselor speech that challenges LGBTQ ideology.
The hard-left Anchorage Assembly passed the ban on a 9-2 vote back in 2020, despite repeated warnings during public comment periods that the ordinance violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
While the Anchorage law bans counselors from speaking out against LGBTQ dogma, it also empowers counselors and therapists to actively encourage minors to explore their same-sex attractions or even to consider permanent surgeries or powerful cross-sex chemicals and puberty blockers to “transition” to the opposite sex.
Similarly, the Colorado law only prohibits counseling conversations in one direction. For example, it allows counseling conversations that steer young people toward a gender identity different than their sex, but prohibits conversations that help them return to comfort with their sex – even when they desire that.
Furthermore, like Anchorage, the one-sided Colorado law threatens severe penalties and fines for those who dare to share perspectives that challenge LGBTQ gender ideology.
1 Comment
The real problem is the hate speech laws and how they conflict with the Free Speech Amendment. LGBTQ are considered a “protected minority” and so anything said against them could be termed “hate speech.” This was the slippery slope from the original hate speech laws against the American Nazis and their harassment of Jews and Holocaust survivors. Anything that limits free speech erodes that privilege. In the end citizens will have to decide which they want – free speech or protected groups. My vote is for free speech.