WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys
WHAT: Available for media interviews following oral arguments in Chiles v. Salazar
WHEN: Immediately following oral arguments, which begin at 10 a.m. EDT, Tue., Oct. 7
WHERE: Outside U.S. Supreme Court, 1 First St. NE, Washington. Additional spokespeople will be available for 1:1 interviews outside the court during and after oral arguments. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Manager Hattie Troutman at (771) 200-7630.
WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom Chief Legal Counsel Jim Campbell, who will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday in Chiles v. Salazar, and Colorado licensed counselor Kaley Chiles will speak at a press conference outside the court immediately following oral arguments.
In the case, ADF attorneys and co-counsel Barry Arrington and Shaun Pearman are defending Chiles in her challenge to Colorado’s counseling censorship law. Chiles wants to help young people distressed about their gender achieve their chosen goal to grow comfortable with their bodies and avoid harmful drugs and procedures. But Colorado law forbids her from having those voluntary conversations with her minor clients.
“Colorado’s law allows counselors to push kids down the path of gender transition, often leading to harmful drugs and surgeries. But it doesn’t allow compassionate counselors like Kaley to talk with kids to help them accept their bodies—even when that is their express goal and they have voluntarily sought Kaley out for advice,” Campbell said. “This is censorship, pure and simple. Colorado is picking sides, promoting gender ideology, and banning conversations it dislikes. We are hopeful the Supreme Court will uphold counselors’ freedom of speech and young people’s ability to set their own goals of living at peace with their bodies.”
“When my young clients come to me for counsel, they often want to discuss issues of gender and sexuality. Yet my home state only allows my clients to pursue state-approved goals like gender transition,” Chiles said. “Colorado’s law harms kids and censors speech. I’m hopeful the Supreme Court will do the right thing—for me, other counselors, and most importantly, kids everywhere.”
Chiles argues that Colorado’s law violates her freedom of speech by prohibiting licensed counselors like her from engaging in counseling conversations with clients under age 18 who want to change some expression, behavior, identity, or feeling associated with their “sexual orientation or gender identity.”
On the issue of gender, the law only prohibits counseling conversations in one direction. It allows conversations that push young people toward a gender identity different than their sex but prohibits conversations that help them grow comfortable with their sex when they desire to do that. The law also threatens severe penalties, including suspension and even revocation of the counselor’s license. As ADF attorneys point out, this one-sided censorship comes amidst a growing national mental-health crisis and prevents many Colorado children from obtaining the counseling that they desire—and that is likely to help them.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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