Summary: Much like Tingley v. Ferguson, this case is about a draconian state law—this time in Colorado—that prohibits licensed counselors from engaging in “sexual orientation change efforts” with minor children. As in Tingley, the NC Values Institute (NCVI.org) wrote to support the counselor’s right to work according to her personal convictions, also emphasizing the inherently religious nature of counseling.
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY:
Many lower courts have fallen down the proverbial “rabbit hole” where “the world is truly upside down” —a counselor “speaking to clients” about gender identity “is not speech” unless the message echoes the government’s preferred viewpoint. This Court now has a second opportunity to address this matter of “fierce public debate” that “strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.”
“The [Free Exercise] Clause protects not only the right to harbor religious beliefs inwardly and secretly,” but also “the ability of those who hold religious beliefs of all kinds to live out their faiths in daily life . . . .” Colorado’s Minor Therapy Conversion Law, C.R.S. §§ 12-245-202, 12- 245-101 (hereafter “Censorship Law”) renders that freedom virtually impossible for many state-licensed counselors and codifies Colorado’s viewpoint on one of today’s most contentious issues. The “fixed star in our constitutional constellation” —barring any public official from prescribing religious orthodoxy (West Va. State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 642 (1943))—shines across decades of precedent and 3 prohibits this draconian law that conditions Chiles’ counseling practice on the demise of her speech and religious liberties.
Counseling is not religiously neutral. On the contrary, counseling is a profession that uniquely touches religion. Religion and counseling both involve speech, thoughts, emotions, conduct, conscience, morality, and values. Counselors are not robots, and values cannot be extracted from counseling. Persons who seek counseling are best served by a system that incorporates respect for the values and conscience of both counselor and counselee. Colorado’s unconstitutional scheme fails to do so.
NC Values Institute and Advocates for Faith & Freedom, as amici curiae, respectfully urge the Court to grant the Petition for Certiorari and reverse the decision of the Tenth Circuit.
Read the brief below.
