By SUZANNE DOWNING
March 31, 2026 – A new development from the US Supreme Court has relevance to Anchorage and its ordinance banning the practice of “conversion therapy,” which is when therapists work with people to help them overcome their sexual confusion.
The Supreme Court breathed new life into a constitutional challenge to Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors, a ruling that could have implications for Anchorage’s own municipal ordinance.
In an 8-1 decision, the justices sent the Colorado case back to the lower courts, saying the 10th Circuit applied the wrong standard when it upheld the conversion therapy ban. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the appeals court should have used the far tougher “strict scrutiny” test because the law, as applied to licensed counselor Kaley Chiles’ talk therapy, regulates speech based on viewpoint. The high court strongly suggested the Colorado law may not survive that review.
That relates to Alaska because Anchorage has its own local ban on conversion therapy for minors. In August 2020, the Anchorage Assembly passed AO 2020-65 on a 9-2 vote, adding Chapter 16.140 to municipal code.
That ordinance prohibits licensed or certified providers from engaging in counseling, treatment, or other practices aimed at changing a minor’s sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or related feelings or behaviors. Violations of the Anchorage ordinance can trigger a civil fine of $500 per day.
The Anchorage law applies to licensed healthcare and mental health providers acting in a professional capacity, including therapists, counselors, psychologists, physicians, social workers, and school counselors. It does not apply to clergy acting solely in a religious role, to parents counseling their own children, or to supportive counseling that does not seek to help a child resolve sexual identity or orientation confusion.
The Supreme Court’s ruling does not automatically strike down Anchorage’s ordinance. But it does raise the stakes. If a similar challenge were brought against the Anchorage law, a court could now be forced to examine whether the city’s restriction is regulating professional conduct or censoring speech based on viewpoint.
That distinction was at the center of the Colorado case. A lower court had treated the law as regulation of conduct that merely involved speech, applying the deferential “rational basis” test. The Supreme Court rejected that approach for Chiles’ case, with Gorsuch writing that Colorado was regulating “speech as speech.”
Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, agreed the law as applied to talk therapy posed a serious First Amendment problem, though she suggested a different kind of law might present a harder question. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, voting alone, argued the states should have greater leeway to regulate treatment by licensed professionals, especially when minors are involved.
For Anchorage, the practical result is that its conversion-therapy ordinance remains on the books for now, but its legal footing may be shakier than before. Alaska has no statewide ban, making Anchorage the only local government in the state to adopt one.
6 thoughts on “Breaking: Supreme Court ruling raises questions about Anchorage’s conversion therapy ban”
It was an odd thing the local Democrat Assembly was to blanket across an entire industry of behavioral health counselors and psychologists
It’s telling a construction worker he can’t use a hammer Or telling an accountant he can’t use a calculator, this rule took a way a tool out the hands of what counselors could use.
The gay-race-comunists will not be deterred. They will continue to pollute our society and culture until they are forced to stop. Not even this ruling will alter their course. A courageous Anchorage therapist will have to challenge the ban. Kudos to whomever that indivual is. We need this therapy to assist children in not making terrible decisions.
“gay-race-communists”? Do you mean that being gay is a race, like White or Black? You sure have a way with words.
Leftists, Godless, rudderless, woke idiots have created this whole nightmare. The CCP has employed their useful idiots to convince American kids that they can be whatever gender they choose. Beyond that generality, this is targeted at male emasculation. Testosterone bad, hunters and their weapons bad. Boys should become homemakers and play with dolls. No more Soldiers!
Give woke educated PhD’s, MD’s, Councelors and big pharma the ability to profit and they will.
The First Amendment has limitations. Getting paid to warp the minds of and thence mutilate the bodies of American children was never part of the founder’s intent.
Innocent children must be protected from the despotism of their elders. We are witnessing the results of this shameful course when we see so many Transgender young adults committing mass murder in schools.
Stop this woke nonsense and their resulting atrocities!
We live in a socialist environment for healthcare. although the psychiatrists and counselors are licensed by private organizations, it is that licensing that is the basis for the State license. Why?
Our useless regulators defer to the private organizations. Psychiatrists are nuts. Needless to say their organization is nuts. Pediatricians are left-wing whack jobs. Needless to say their organization is nuts. So why do we defer to nutcase organizations to determine the licensing for our medical professionals? Who is making sure those organizations are operating in a sensible and fair manner?
Throughout the western world (only educated people would entertain this nonsense) child mutilation has been determined to be inappropriate. And yet the psychiatrists consider a living tranny over a dead child to be indicative of an intelligent solution. However, when someone gets to this point, they probably have other issues that need to be dealt with. Possibly their proposed solution to attempt to convert the look of a child is inappropriate. They have no data to support their conclusion so maybe those professional organizations are incorrect.
If we necessitate gubmint to license our medical professionals, then we, as a society, have every right to say no to experimental unproven therapies. We already say no to other therapies, so why is this one different when it only affects 0.003% of the population (if that).
Wow. I had no idea that Anchorage had such an ordinance. So, psychologists and psychiatrists are prohibited by law to address certain psychological/psychiatric disorders? Those running Anchorage are some truly sick people.