Conversion therapy survivors react to Supreme Court ruling on Colorado ban

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) The founder of a national conversion therapy survivors organization says the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to side against Colorado's ban on the practice has left survivors feeling hopeless but urged the community not to treat the ruling as the final word.

Curtis Lopez Galloway is the founder and president of the Conversion Therapy Survivors Network. He told News Channel 3 in a sit-down interview that the impact of Tuesday's 8-1 ruling in Chiles v. Salazar has been immediate.

"I've seen people that are feeling rather hopeless," Galloway said. "They feel like the government's against them. They feel like this is the start of some domino effects happening where all these bans can be struck down and that their trauma is being questioned as real or not."

Galloway called those reactions valid but said the ruling does not end the fight. The Supreme Court did not strike down Colorado's 2019 law outright. Instead, the justices ruled that the law raises First Amendment concerns and sent the case back to a lower court to apply a higher standard of legal scrutiny one that few laws survive.

The decision could have implications well beyond Colorado. California was the first state in the nation to ban conversion therapy for minors in 2012, and roughly two dozen states have similar laws on the books. Legal experts say those laws could now face challenges.

Galloway pushed back on the court's framing of the issue as one of free speech, comparing it to other recognized limits on speech protections.

"Free speech is literally just the government can't censor you based on your opinions," Galloway said. "That doesn't mean that you can go into a crowded theater and scream fire. That doesn't mean that you can engage in medical malpractice. These are regulated industries that have been regulated for a long time."

Galloway said the Conversion Therapy Survivors Network held a special session the night the ruling came down for members to process the news. He said the organization is also coordinating with national groups, including the Trevor Project, on next steps.

"For us here at Conversion Therapy Survivor Network, we're kind of just business as usual," Galloway said. "We keep doing what we're doing advocating for survivors and holding space for them to find community healing."