The Denver Gazette reports that Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 1322, allowing people who underwent “conversion therapy” to seek damages from licensed providers, while also signing an executive order prohibiting state funds from being used for the practice. Polis called conversion therapy harmful, ineffective, and a scam.
The article says conversion therapy refers to practices that attempt to counsel people on sexual orientation or gender identity, with critics arguing it causes harm and supporters arguing participation decisions should be left to families. The Gazette also notes critics say the bill raises constitutional concerns, especially after a Colorado Springs counselor, Kaley Chiles, won an 8-1 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors.
Here is Colorado’s ruling class doing what it always does: take a morally loaded issue, wrap it in therapeutic language, hand trial lawyers a new weapon, ban funding, declare compassion achieved, and then dare anyone to ask where the guardrails are.
The Bullet Point Brief
- HB 1322 lets individuals bring civil claims for injuries tied to conversion therapy performed by licensed providers. That is not just a policy statement. That is a lawsuit ramp with a ribbon cutting.
- Polis also signed an executive order blocking state funds from being used for conversion therapy. Fine. If the practice is abusive, fraudulent, or exploitative, nobody needs to defend quackery with a hymnal and a business card.
- The hard question is scope. How broad is the definition? Who counts as a provider? What counseling or speech gets swept in? These are not fringe questions. They are the questions serious lawmakers ask before turning ambiguity into a lawsuit grenade.
- The article notes constitutional concerns after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Kaley Chiles, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing that viewpoint-based suppression of speech is an “egregious” assault on First Amendment commitments. That is not exactly a footnote. That is the warning label on the package.
- The bill passed 40-23 in the House and 23-12 in the Senate. Colorado Democrats got their culture-war trophy, the regulatory machine got another lever, and the lawsuit-industrial complex got fresh hay in the courtroom cattle chute.
My Bottom Line
Colorado’s ruling Democrats have a bad habit of treating every sensitive human issue like it needs a bill, a ban, a funding prohibition, a civil cause of action, and a victory lap from the governor. That is not always compassion. Sometimes it is just control with better branding.
The danger here is not that abusive practices get challenged. They should. The danger is that lawmakers create a legal minefield so vague that licensed professionals decide the safest option is silence. Real counseling requires trust, honesty, hard conversations, and room for complicated human beings to speak without every sentence being inspected by a future plaintiff’s attorney.
Polis and the legislature want applause for compassion. Fine, but compassion needs guardrails too. Protect people from abuse. Protect taxpayers from funding junk science. But do not pretend the First Amendment, parental rights, professional judgment, and due process are annoying little speed bumps on the road to the next press conference.
Source: The Denver Gazette
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