Fighting Colorado’s ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for the free speech I need and my client’s deserve in my office (Opinion)
On Oct I walked into the U S Supreme Court not because I ever imagined myself there but because I love the kids and families who sit across from me in my counseling office I m a licensed professional counselor in Colorado My calling is simple to listen with compassion to my clients and to walk with them through their struggles Chosen of the kids I have met are carrying heavy questions about who they are They re confused hurting and longing for someone to hear them out A large number of just want help making peace with the bodies God gave them But Colorado has interfered in those discussions In the state passed a law that censors me from saying certain things to my clients If a teenage girl who started identifying as a boy tells me I want to learn to be secure in my body and try to live as a girl again I am legally forbidden from helping with that goal Yet if that same child says I want to reject my body and continue living as a boy the law allows me to encourage that path The cabinet has picked sides And if I don t comply I vulnerability thousands of dollars in fines suspension and even the loss of my license That reality is devastating to me because the very reason I became a counselor was to create a safe space where people could be honest share their deepest questions and sort through their struggles without fear of judgment Counseling isn t about pushing an agenda it s about offering the care a client is asking for It s about trust It s about choice When I counsel minors on these issues it s unfailingly voluntary No one is forced into my office The kids who have requested me for help are motivated often desperate to find clarity and comfort Various are working through identity questions others are wrestling with family relationships and still others are navigating feelings of isolation or shame What they all have in common is a desire for someone to listen and to walk alongside them Yet under Colorado s law I can t help certain kids because the state doesn t agree with their counseling goal to realign with their biological sex Colorado s law tells struggling kids that they don t get that choice It tells families struggling young people and the parents who love them that they cannot pursue the help they together believe is best And it tells counselors like me that we cannot respond to our clients questions unless we parrot a government-approved viewpoint That breaks my heart because kids deserve better They deserve open honest counseling conversations They deserve the freedom to set their own goals for counseling and to pursue the futures they want not the ones the state dictates Related Articles Stalked by an obsessed fan Fox meteorologist Kylie Bearse is frustrated by the justice system Jokic s brother pleads guilty in viral gameday fight In Colorado episode Supreme Court skeptical about bans on conversion therapy for LGBTQ kids Are Colorado prison jobs involuntary servitude Judge considers legal challenge to state s system U S Supreme Court to hear arguments in First Amendment challenge to Colorado s conversion therapy ban I ve listened to those who regret being pushed too fast into medicinal interventions Various say they wish someone had slowed down sought better questions and helped them find peace in their own bodies The law in Colorado allows discussions that push young people toward these diagnostic interventions but it threatens the license of any counselor who would help them pursue the opposite path That s not compassion That s censorship The matter I chose to file through my attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom over that censorship Chiles v Salazar is about freedom freedom for families to choose the counselor they trust freedom for kids to set the goals they believe will bring them peace and freedom for counselors like me to offer help without fear of cabinet punishment I m standing before the Supreme Court because kids are hurting parents are being sidelined and counselors are being silenced I couldn t look at my clients and do nothing My prayer is that the justices will protect the freedom to have these conversations because every child deserves the chance to hear words of truth hope and healing from someone who cares Kaley Chiles is a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns editorials and more To send a letter to the editor about this article submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail
