A New Hampshire law that bans the practice of so-called “conversion therapy” for minors could be in doubt, following a decision by the Supreme Court Tuesday that found a similar law in Colorado is a violation of free speech.
New Hampshire is one of at least 20 other states with laws prohibiting medical providers, including therapists, from “practices or treatments that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” including efforts to eliminate attraction toward people of the same gender, for patients under the age of 18.
Then Gov. Chris Sununu signed the ban into law in 2018.
In an 8-1 ruling, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the sole dissenter, the Supreme Court said the Colorado law, which closely resembles the one currently on the books in New Hampshire, interferes with free speech.
The majority opinion, authored by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, said that the Colorado law, as applied to talk therapy, "regulates speech based on viewpoint.”
Chris Erchull, an attorney at GLAD Law, said he’s disappointed in the ruling and that he thinks it’s hard to regulate the practice of medicine without regulating speech.
“In the process of getting these bans enacted in different states across the country, including in New Hampshire, we've had the opportunity to share with the public a lot of information about why these practices are so harmful,” Erchull said.
He said he hopes people will continue to understand “more and more why conversion therapy is so harmful and wrong” regardless of the court’s ruling.
Erchull said he and other advocates will be focusing on how to protect minors from conversion therapy following this ruling.
“Our project now as advocates is to find ways to think about legislation that will survive First Amendment review,” Erchull said.
Susan Stearns, the executive director of NAMI New Hampshire, said no major medical association has supported conversion therapy and likely most New Hampshire providers, if they are licensed, will not provide conversion therapy.
She said that research has shown conversion therapy increases mental health conditions like depression and anxiety in people who undergo treatment.
While Stearns said she finds the recent ruling is concerning, she said there will still be providers in the state that will not use conversation therapy.
“There are a lot of really good providers who are determined to make sure young people have access to the appropriate mental health care that they need,” Stearns said.
Republican lawmakers failed to overturn New Hampshire’s ban on practices that seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity in 2022.
