KAYLEY CHILES: I’m a counselor. The Supreme Court upheld Colorado’s sex laws
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On March 31, the United States Supreme Court ruled in my case, Chiles v. Salazar. It’s about a Colorado law that prohibits licensed counselors like myself from talking to gender-confused children to help them find comfort with their bodies – even if that’s what the children want. I filed a lawsuit with the help of the Alliance Defending Freedom to challenge this assessment, and the jury has now ruled 8-1 in my favor.
It is reassuring that the court has protected freedom of speech. While Colorado officials may honestly think that a boy could be a girl, our state was founded on the right to engage in healthy conversation — even when the government disagrees with us.
This decision also helps to protect the mental, physical and emotional health of our children. But Colorado’s law puts their lives at risk. In particular, the law required counselors like me to avoid conversations with young clients who wanted to reframe their gender identity, while encouraging children to reject their gender.
SUPREME COURT BLOCKS COLORADO’S ‘CONVERSION CURE’ FOR FIRST WARRANTIES.
In effect, the state forces counselors to remain silent or participate in a one-size-fits-all deal that pushes children down the path of transgenderism and into dangerous drugs and surgery. This order prevents some children and families from getting the counseling they really want – counseling to help them accept their bodies. Colorado thinks it knows better than families what counseling they should get.
This victory requires another step. I ask the counselors to think carefully about the gender stereotypes that it is possible to be born in a body that is not right and dedicate themselves to protecting young people.
The law also inhibits my best inclinations as a thinker and a clinically trained counselor. I have to listen to my clients rather than guide them to the end set by the government. Instead, the law of the land will force me to suppress both my beliefs and professional training, while it is a combination that often attracts clients to seek me out.
The Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, DC The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 on Tuesday that Colorado cannot enforce its ban on so-called “conversion therapy” regarding conversations between therapists and children, saying the law may violate the First Amendment by allowing some views but not others. (Jon Elswick/AP)
The Colorado trial deprives these young people of what they most want: someone to talk to who will listen sincerely … who will try to understand their individual experiences and feelings … who can walk with them through their pain and confusion and help them find a way to thoughtful decisions and a happy future.
Thankfully, our highest court has now recognized the danger of what Colorado and other states have been suppressing my work. Throughout our history, government officials have repeatedly tried to use censorship in the name of protecting people from hearing views deemed too dangerous. And again, the court should have explained why censorship would not be the answer to our disagreement. With their decision, the justices gave Colorado a refresher on the fundamentals of the First Amendment and confirmed that the government cannot silence opinions in the deliberation room.
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But this victory requires another step. I ask the counselors to think carefully about the gender stereotypes that it is possible to be born in a body that is not right and dedicate themselves to protecting young people. Research shows that the majority of children with gender dysphoria – including about 90% of children before puberty – will stop, meaning they will identify with their assigned gender. But those natural levels of avoidance diminish when children begin to transition into society and are treated as the opposite sex. And slow withdrawal means an increasing number of children end up receiving dangerous drugs and surgeries that have no proven benefits.
US Supreme Court Justices pose for their official portrait at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on October 7, 2022. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
Just because some professional groups cite their authority as “evidence” otherwise, and some in the media accept this fad, doesn’t make it so. Instead, we must study the science that is clearly opposed to fashion – and do it with the same sense and rigor that we bring to other matters of our work. Let’s acknowledge as an industry that, according to many, society has lost trust and we must work to rebuild it.
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Children with identity problems deserve this.
These are opportunities that the Supreme Court’s decision will help make happen. I hope we can share the judiciary’s commitment to protecting young people and their families from bad science, endangered freedom and political interference in the right to pursue the truth without being silenced.
Kaley Chiles is a licensed professional counselor in Colorado.
