OutNebraska
Abbi Swatsworth
Executive Director
Abbi@outnebraska.org
Chiles v. Salazar Supreme Court Case
LINCOLN, Neb. – In response to the pending U.S. Supreme Court case on whether a Colorado law banning “conversion therapy” violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
We urge the Supreme Court to protect LGBTQ+ youth by upholding Colorado’s ban on the practice of conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is a dangerous, discredited practice that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity to be heterosexual and cisgender. The Colorado Law prohibits therapists from promising young people they can change their sexual orientation or gender identity if they just try hard enough. These false promises are linked to increased rates of suicide attempts, anxiety, and depression.
Research shows that LGBTQ+ youth who experienced conversion therapy are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide and more than 2.5 times as likely to report multiple suicide attempts in the past year. The Trevor Project’s 2022 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ young people found that 17% of Nebraska’s LGBTQ+ young people have been threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy.
While Nebraska does not currently have a statewide ban on the practice of conversion therapy, the city of Lincoln passed a ban in 2021. We celebrate this progress in Nebraska and across our country — youth are protected from conversion therapy in 23 states, plus the District of Columbia. An additional five states have partial conversion therapy bans.
We encourage the Supreme Court to protect the LGBTQ+ youth in our country by upholding Colorado’s Law banning conversion therapy. We look forward to continuing to fight for protections in Nebraska by supporting local and state work to ban this harmful practice.
OutNebraska is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to empower, celebrate, and grow LGBTQ+ communities across Nebraska. For more information, visit outnebraska.org.
