The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the discredited practice.
An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argues the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint.” The First Amendment, he wrote, “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
So, you can say whatever you want, even if your viewpoint is lies. But what about the consequences of what you say? I’m guessing if you were forced through conversion therapy, you could still sue the therapist?
Does this ruling open the door to legalizing speech that lies about a product? Like could I run a cigarette ad telling everyone that smoking tobacco is healthy? I mean, we wouldn’t want to “censor a viewpoint.”