SCOTUS hears arguments on Colorado conversion therapy ban

LISA KEEN | Keen News Service lisakeen@mac.com

The argument before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, Oct. 7 revisited the days between the 1950s and 1970s when the psychiatric profession considered homosexuality to be a mental disorder.

CNN News’ headline boldly declared afterwards that the “Supreme Court [was] prepared to rule against conversion therapy ban.” But the far-ranging discussion — from suicide and banning pitbulls in parks to speech in support of terrorism and electro-shock therapy — left no clear sense of how the justices might rule, other than their well-established political leanings.

The case before the court was Chiles v. Salazar (Colorado), asking whether a state law that bans therapists from using conversion therapy on minors violates the First Amendment of t