00:00The United States Supreme Court has struck down a ban on conversion therapy.
00:04Now, this is seen as a threat to the well-being of the LGBTQ community.
00:08It'll mean young people can be subjected to treatment to try to change their preferences.
00:13The case has happened in Colorado.
00:15David Smith joins us now, Bureau Chief of the Guardian newspaper in Washington.
00:19For more analysis of this one, David, tell us first, how did all this come about?
00:24Yeah, well, Colorado is one of more than 20 states that has a ban on conversion therapy,
00:31which can aim to change a children's sexual identity or gender identification.
00:37And basically a Christian talk therapist brought this legal challenge to the law in Colorado,
00:44arguing that what happens in talk therapy is constitutionally protected free speech.
00:51And, of course, with America's First Amendment, that's always a very important issue here.
00:57And after a debate, the Supreme Court upheld that argument in an 8-to-1 vote,
01:04which you don't see very often.
01:06Not only the conservatives on the Supreme Court, but many of the liberal justices,
01:09with the exception of Katanji Brown-Jackson.
01:12They basically agreed that the Colorado law censors speech based on viewpoints
01:21by allowing only one side of the debate regarding sexual orientation and gender identity
01:27to be presented in that therapeutic setting.
01:32The objection from Jackson argued, yeah, that's all very well,
01:37but let's look at the wider context here.
01:39This is about providing health care for young people.
01:43And certainly other critics of this decision say,
01:46look at studies that show this kind of conversion therapy has been linked to depression
01:52and suicide in children.
01:54But today's rule doesn't instantly affect those other states,
01:58but it certainly could be used as a precedent.
02:01There's already Christian conservative groups talking about bringing similar legal challenges
02:06that could try and make this have implications way beyond Colorado.
02:10So many questions here, David.
02:12So many questions.
02:13I'm wondering whether a child of whatever age it is, is actually forced into this.
02:19I take it they have no choice if it is decided they should have this.
02:25Yeah, I think obviously the parents would try to have a say,
02:29but there could certainly be situations in more conservative states where there is little choice for the child.
02:36The defenders of this this argument who brought this case said,
02:41look, this is very different from the kind of shock therapy that we saw 10 or 20 years ago.
02:47This is purely conversational and and therefore should be protected by free speech.
02:53It's not fair just to have what they perceive as one side of this argument.
02:58But certainly I think LGBTQ groups in the US do look at this in the context of their rights being
03:06under attack
03:07and and roll back in all sorts of ways.
03:11And in particular, of course, Donald Trump has really focused a lot of his attacks on the transgender individuals
03:19and trying to make it a law that there's only men and women in America.
03:23And, you know, we've seen subsequent rise in in hostility to those groups.
03:30I suppose where one stands on this depends on what you think.
03:34But from from our perspective, as journalists looking at this in a purely neutral way,
03:38thinking, well, surely choice is what matters and the freedom to choose.
03:43And it sounds like on the one side,
03:45they're arguing that they must have their point of view put forward.
03:47But but in the same token of that, suppressing the point of view of the others.
03:51I'm wondering whether the LBTQ community have some way of appealing against this or mounting some kind of protest.
04:01I think we will certainly see demonstrations about this.
04:05We could see it become a political issue in the midterm elections.
04:08The Democratic Party will be under pressure to take a stand.
04:11And if and when this comes to other states in the U.S., I suspect we will see legal challenges.
04:22But ultimately, it's hard.
04:24I mean, it was, you know, as I say, it was notable.
04:26This was an 8-1 ruling by the Supreme Court justices.
04:31Even liberal justices such as Sotomayor were sympathetic to the arguments that this this ban infringes freedom of speech.
04:40So I think it's even even on the left, it's not an entirely clear cut case here.
04:46And that's going to limit the options of LGBTQ groups at a moment when they're already on a back foot,
04:53already under siege.
04:55In the 2024 election, we heard a lot about Donald Trump attacking the idea of using pronouns such as they,
05:03for example.
05:04It does feel like there's a cultural shift in the other direction at the moment in the United States.
05:11And today's legal ruling is the latest step in that direction.
05:16David, thank you very much indeed for that analysis of this decision to strike down conversion therapy or rather make
05:23it available to those who want to subject their children to it.
05:27It's happening in Colorado and could well go further across the United States.
05:30And thanks again to David Smith, Bureau Chief of The Guardian newspaper in Washington, for his insight.
05:35Thank you very much.
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