Justice Samuel Alito poses "ideology" question in Supreme Court LGBTQ+ casehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/justice-samuel-alito-poses-ideology-question-in-supreme-court-lgbtq-case/ar-AA1O2pF0?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=2bf5ac9011d04ee59f87cea9ed4beda3&ei=24 🔗 [Link: msn.com/en-us/news/us/justice-samuel-alito-poses-ideology-question-in-supreme-court-lgbtq-case/ar-AA1O2pF0/]Andrew Stanton (7 Oct 2025)
More than 20 states have banned conversion therapy for minors, with a number of medical professionals and LGBTQ+ advocates saying the practice of trying to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling does not work, lacks a scientific basis and can ultimately cause harm to minors.
Critics of these laws, however, argue that they violate First Amendment rights of counselors. A majority of justices on the conservative-leaning court appeared poised to side with Colorado counselor Kaley Chiles, who has challenged the law on First Amendment grounds, arguing that it prohibits her from using her speech with clients.
Alito pressed Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson, who argued in defense of the state's law, about the "standard of care" aspect of her case.
... "Have there been occasions—I mean the medical consensus is usually very reasonable and very important—but have there been times where the medical consensus has been politicized, has been taken over by ideology?"
Stevenson said she "has no facts about that in this case," but that scenario would be "possible." Alito responded whether that would be a reason to apply First Amendment scrutiny to the Colorado law.
"No, your honor, because again when we're talking about words used to deliver medical treatment, those issues are the same whether you're talking about words being used or whether you're talking about medical practices that don't involve words. Those issues are the exact same," she said.
Stevenson argued that the law does not violate the First Amendment because it only applies to medical treatment licensed by the state and that practitioners are still free to express their viewpoints on conversion therapy.
