Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined 20 other attorneys general in filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Colorado’s law banning licensed health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on minors, arguing the practice is harmful and falls below accepted medical standards.
Per the news release distributed on Wednesday, August 27: “Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a multistate coalition in an amicus brief at the Supreme Court of the United States defending a Colorado law that prohibits licensed health professionals from practicing conversion “therapy” on minors. Conversion “therapy” is a harmful and ineffective practice that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Colorado’s law prohibits licensed health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on children and youth.
The statute was challenged in federal court by a licensed counselor who supports conversion therapy. Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that Colorado is entitled to regulate professional conduct, particularly where there is evidence of harm. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in this case on October 7, 2025.
“Conversion therapy is a dangerous practice that increases children’s risk of suicide, depression, and lasting psychological harm,” said Attorney General Brown. “Maryland and other states must be able to protect our most vulnerable children from these harmful interventions that tell them there’s something wrong with who they are.”
The brief filed by 21 attorneys general supports Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy because it is not a safe or effective treatment for any condition, puts youth at risk of serious harms, including increased risks of suicide and depression, and falls below the standard of care for mental health practitioners.
“Based on the consensus view of established medical organizations, over twenty States have codified the conclusion that the practice of conversion therapy on minors always falls below the standard of care for the mental health professions,” the brief reads, in part. “This…is based on voluminous studies demonstrating the practice’s harms to children and the consensus of all leading medical and mental health organizations that conversion therapy should not be conducted on children.”
Maryland is one of over 25 states that ban or restrict conversion therapy. The practice is repudiated by all leading medical and mental professional organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association.
The brief outlines why the Court should reject the arguments against Colorado’s ban on the practice:
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The First Amendment does not shield dangerous and ineffective mental health practices from regulation, nor does it allow licensed providers to operate below a certain standard of care.
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Such bans are consistent with states’ long history of establishing and regulating professional standards of care.
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Striking down such a 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.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing the brief are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.”
