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  "path": "/politics/states/colorado-passes-conversion-therapy-ban",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-08T17:22:04.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.advocate.com",
  "tags": [
    "Casey pick",
    "Colorado",
    "Conversion therapy",
    "Hb26-1322",
    "Jared polis",
    "Law",
    "Mardi moore",
    "Nadine bridges",
    "National center for lgbtq rights",
    "One colorado",
    "Rocky mountain equality",
    "Shannon minter",
    "Trevor project",
    "U.s. supreme court",
    "Democrats",
    "ruling",
    "LGBTQ+",
    "Kids can be subjected to harmful 'conversion therapy,’ U.S. Supreme Court rules",
    "Outrage at Stonewall after Supreme Court voids Colorado's conversion therapy ban",
    "improperly regulated therapists’ speech based on viewpoint",
    "The Supreme Court just handed conversion therapy a new license for violence",
    "The Supreme Court’s conversion therapy ruling is being misunderstood",
    "I survived conversion therapy. Now it's coming back in softer words",
    "The Trevor Project’s",
    "Washington, D.C."
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nColorado Democrats have passed a new law designed to preserve the state’s ban on so-called “conversion therapy” after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s previous attempt to shield young people from the dangerous and discredited practice.\n\nThe Colorado General Assembly on Thursday approved HB26-1322, legislation that rewrites the state’s conversion therapy statute in direct response to the Supreme Court’s March ruling in __Chiles v. Salazar__. The bill now heads to Gov. Jared Polis, a gay Democrat, who is expected to sign it into law.\n\n\"The passage of HB26-1322 is a clear statement from Colorado’s Legislature that conversion therapy is dangerous and has lasting negative impacts on those who are exposed to it,” Mardi Moore, chief executive officer of Rocky Mountain Equality, told _The_ _Advocate_ in a statement. “This law keeps the state ban on the practice in place by complying with _Chiles v. Salazar_ to ensure viewpoint neutrality, and gives survivors additional time to hold practitioners who did harm accountable.\"\n\nThe measure’s passage marks one of the first major attempts by a state legislature to outmaneuver the court after its 8-1 decision shook LGBTQ+ advocates and raised fears that conversion therapy bans across the country could collapse under First Amendment challenges.\n\n**Related** : Kids can be subjected to harmful 'conversion therapy,’ U.S. Supreme Court rules \n\n**Related** : Outrage at Stonewall after Supreme Court voids Colorado's conversion therapy ban \n\nBut Colorado lawmakers are betting the justices themselves left a roadmap.\n\nThe Supreme Court’s ruling did not endorse conversion therapy, nor did it reject decades of medical consensus finding the practice harmful. Instead, the court concluded that Colorado’s earlier law improperly regulated therapists’ speech based on viewpoint, particularly in the context of talk therapy involving minors.\n\nThat constitutional distinction proved enormously consequential, immediately setting off a scramble among LGBTQ+ legal groups and Democratic lawmakers searching for ways to preserve protections for queer and trans youth without triggering the same constitutional concerns.\n\nColorado moved first.\n\nRather than banning therapists from counseling minors in one ideological direction, the rewritten law prohibits licensed mental health providers from imposing any “predetermined outcome” regarding sexual orientation or gender identity on a young patient, regardless of the direction of that outcome.\n\n**Related** :  The Supreme Court just handed conversion therapy a new license for violence\n\n**Related** : The Supreme Court’s conversion therapy ruling is being misunderstood\n\nIn practical terms, therapists cannot attempt to steer minors either toward becoming LGBTQ+ or away from it. Supporters argue the rewrite shifts the law away from regulating viewpoints and toward regulating coercive professional conduct regardless of ideology.\n\nLegal advocates say that wording matters immensely.\n\n“The Supreme Court gave specific guidance about how to amend conversion therapy laws to be viewpoint-neutral so that these protections can remain in place, helping to protect youth before they are harmed,” Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, said in a statement. “Given the urgency of this issue and the danger that conversion therapy poses to youth, Colorado moved swiftly.”\n\nAccording to data cited by supporters of the bill, 41 percent of LGBTQ+ youth in Colorado reported seriously considering suicide in the past year, while 14 percent said they had been threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy.\n\nThe legislation goes beyond merely reinstating the state’s earlier ban.\n\nHB26-1322 also creates new legal exposure for therapists and institutions involved in conversion therapy practices, extending the statute of limitations for malpractice claims tied to conversion therapy and allowing survivors to pursue claims years, even decades, after the harm occurred.\n\n**Related** : I survived conversion therapy. Now it's coming back in softer words\n\nThe legislation reflects an increasingly prominent understanding among trauma researchers and LGBTQ+ advocates that survivors often take years to fully recognize the psychological damage caused by conversion therapy.\n\nIn a joint statement backing the legislation, advocates said HB26-1322 recognizes that survivors of conversion therapy often need “years — sometimes decades — to recognize and process the trauma caused by the practice,” adding that delayed recognition of harm is often “the rule, not the exception.”\n\n“This new law amends Colorado’s existing protections to address the critiques highlighted by the Supreme Court’s recent decision and, importantly, declares that mental health professionals who abuse the sacred trust placed in them will not be protected from malpractice claims by the years of shame and silence caused by conversion therapy,” The Trevor Project’s senior director of law and policy, Casey Pick, said in a statement.\n\nPick added that the legislation could help deter practitioners from continuing the practice. “The data could not be clearer: if we end these junk practices, we will save young people’s lives,” she said.\n\nMore than 20 states and Washington, D.C., currently restrict conversion therapy for minors. Advocates say Colorado’s approach may serve as a template for states seeking to preserve those laws.\n\n“This victory belongs to the survivors, advocates, and community members who refused to let this issue be forgotten,” Nadine Bridges, executive director of One Colorado, said in a statement. “Together, we continue building a Colorado rooted in dignity, healing, and belonging for all.”",
  "title": "Colorado quickly rewrites & passes new conversion therapy ban to get around Supreme Court ruling"
}