Attorney General Phil Weiser fights to protect youth from harmful conversion therapy

June 4, 2025 (DENVER) — Colorado today joined a multistate coalition in a court brief defending a Michigan law that prohibits licensed health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on minors. The practice, also called sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts, attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and is widely discredited as harmful and ineffective by leading national health organizations.

“So-called conversion therapy is an inhumane and abusive practice overwhelmingly shown to harm young people,” said Attorney General Phil Weiser. “We have a compelling interest in protecting children from this dangerous pseudoscience. Colorado stands firmly with Michigan in protecting professional standards of care to prioritize the well-being of our youth.”

Michigan’s law, which bans the use of conversion therapy on children and youth by licensed professionals, is currently being challenged before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The brief filed by 19 states and the District of Columbia supports the law, arguing that conversion therapy is not only ineffective and unsafe, but harmful, leading to increased risks of suicide, depression, and other serious mental health issues. The brief underscores that such practices fall well below the accepted standard of care for mental health practitioners.

Colorado is one of more than 25 states that bans or restricts conversion therapy and is currently defending its law before the U.S. Supreme Court in Chiles v. Salazar. The case challenges the state’s authority to prohibit licensed professionals from engaging in this discredited and dangerous intervention. The practice itself is condemned by every major medical and mental health organization in the country, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association.

The brief urges the court to uphold Michigan’s law, arguing that the First Amendment does not prevent states from regulating dangerous or ineffective health practices, nor does it allow licensed providers to operate below a certain standard of care. Michigan’s ban is consistent with states’ long history of establishing and regulating professional standards of care, and striking down the ban would likely create profound unintended consequences for states’ authority to regulate professional practices within their borders as they have throughout most of the nation’s history.

Read a copy of the brief (PDF).

Joining Attorney General Weiser on the brief are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

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Media Contact:
Lawrence Pacheco
Chief Communications Officer
(720) 508-6553 office
lawrence.pacheco@coag.gov