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Gender Theory, Parental Rights, and Conversion Therapy: What Christian Families Are Actually Up Against
The real threat to parental authority is practitioners who exploit fear to sell a false promise. Families, not fringe practitioners, know what their children need.
Quick Takeaways
New ideas about how young people see themselves are spreading fast, and organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom are using that cultural moment to argue that conversion therapy should be available to minors through licensed therapists.
Chiles v. Salazar, a case still working through the federal courts, could strip states of authority to hold licensed practitioners accountable for harmful interventions on children.
"Conversion therapy" carries no credible clinical support and generates an estimated $9.23 billion economic burden annually, per JAMA Pediatrics.
The real threat to parental authority is practitioners who exploit fear to sell a false promise. Families, not fringe practitioners, know what their children need.
Christian parents are trying to make sense of a cultural landscape that feels like it shifted overnight. New ideas about how young people see themselves arrive through school curricula, social media, and even pediatricians' offices. Somewhere in the noise, someone may offer conversion therapy as the faithful answer.
It is not.
What Chiles v. Salazar Means for Your Family
In 2019, Colorado passed the Minor Conversion Therapy Law, prohibiting licensed therapists from practicing "conversion therapy" on minors. The law does not touch pastors, youth ministers, or faith-based counselors. It applies only to licensed mental health professionals who already must follow professional standards to keep their credentials.
A therapist named Kaley Chiles, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), is challenging that law. Her argument: because therapy involves talking, and talking is protected by the First Amendment, Colorado cannot regulate what she says in session.
ADF frames this as defending parental rights. But families should ask who actually gains power if the argument succeeds. If therapy is reclassified as protected speech, state medical boards lose significant authority to hold practitioners accountable for what they do behind closed doors. That does not protect parents. It protects practitioners and shifts authority away from families toward strangers with licenses.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Colorado's law in 2024. The case continues.
Who ADF Is, and What Their Record Shows
ADF presents itself as a guardian of Christian family values. In 2022, the organization drafted at least 130 bills across 34 states, with more than 30 passing into law. That record includes fighting protections for minors in multiple contexts and, internationally, supporting efforts to criminalize same-sex relationships between adults. Our Education Hub documents where conversion therapy protections for minors currently exist by state.
ADF now argues in Chiles v. Salazar that "conversion therapy" should be permitted for minors. Reporting has noted that at least one ADF senior staff member is openly attracted to the same sex, and the organization has not directed him toward that therapy. That inconsistency is worth considering.
The Price Families Pay
"Conversion therapy" carries a measurable cost. A 2022 analysis in JAMA Pediatrics found the total annual direct cost among minors at approximately $650 million, with downstream harms including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide attempts driving the broader economic burden to $9.23 billion.
Those numbers reflect real families. Studies collected in our mental health research hub include research finding that children who experienced family rejection, including enrollment in "conversion therapy," were 8.4 times more likely to report attempting suicide and 5.9 times more likely to report severe depression. That is not a treatment outcome. That is a family breaking apart.
Many who went through these programs say their faith became the primary casualty. They were told God would change them. When nothing changed, they concluded God had abandoned them.
What Christian Parents Can Choose Instead
Parents do not have to choose between their faith and their children. Real support means strengthening the family bond, not gambling it on a promise no practitioner can keep. FreedHearts, Fortunate Families, and PFLAG's faith materials offer tools designed to reduce depression, self-harm risk, and family fracture.
No licensed professional can change who your child is. Parents who have found a different way forward share a common turning point: they stopped listening to practitioners and started listening to their child. No court ruling should give practitioners cover to exploit that love for profit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Chiles v. Salazar? A federal lawsuit in which an ADF-represented therapist is challenging Colorado's law against practicing "conversion therapy" on minors, arguing the law violates First Amendment speech protections. The 10th Circuit upheld Colorado's law in 2024, and the case continues.
Is "conversion therapy" medically supported? No major U.S. medical or mental health organization endorses it. JAMA Pediatrics estimated the practice generates $9.23 billion in annual economic burden when downstream harms are included.
Does banning "conversion therapy" force a particular outcome on children? No. Colorado's law prohibits practitioners from pursuing a predetermined goal of changing same-sex attraction or how a child sees themselves. Therapists may still help children explore identity, support faith-based values, discuss celibacy, and work with families.
What has ADF actually done in family law? ADF drafted at least 130 bills across 34 states in 2022, with more than 30 passing. The organization uses faith-grounded language to pursue legal changes that expand practitioner authority over children and families.
Where can Christian parents find faith-aligned support? FreedHearts, Fortunate Families, and PFLAG's faith resources offer research-grounded tools for families navigating these questions with their faith intact.
Publicaciones recientes
Gender Theory, Parental Rights, and Conversion Therapy: What Christian Families Are Actually Up Against
The real threat to parental authority is practitioners who exploit fear to sell a false promise. Families, not fringe practitioners, know what their children need.
Quick Takeaways
New ideas about how young people see themselves are spreading fast, and organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom are using that cultural moment to argue that conversion therapy should be available to minors through licensed therapists.
Chiles v. Salazar, a case still working through the federal courts, could strip states of authority to hold licensed practitioners accountable for harmful interventions on children.
"Conversion therapy" carries no credible clinical support and generates an estimated $9.23 billion economic burden annually, per JAMA Pediatrics.
The real threat to parental authority is practitioners who exploit fear to sell a false promise. Families, not fringe practitioners, know what their children need.
Christian parents are trying to make sense of a cultural landscape that feels like it shifted overnight. New ideas about how young people see themselves arrive through school curricula, social media, and even pediatricians' offices. Somewhere in the noise, someone may offer conversion therapy as the faithful answer.
It is not.
What Chiles v. Salazar Means for Your Family
In 2019, Colorado passed the Minor Conversion Therapy Law, prohibiting licensed therapists from practicing "conversion therapy" on minors. The law does not touch pastors, youth ministers, or faith-based counselors. It applies only to licensed mental health professionals who already must follow professional standards to keep their credentials.
A therapist named Kaley Chiles, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), is challenging that law. Her argument: because therapy involves talking, and talking is protected by the First Amendment, Colorado cannot regulate what she says in session.
ADF frames this as defending parental rights. But families should ask who actually gains power if the argument succeeds. If therapy is reclassified as protected speech, state medical boards lose significant authority to hold practitioners accountable for what they do behind closed doors. That does not protect parents. It protects practitioners and shifts authority away from families toward strangers with licenses.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Colorado's law in 2024. The case continues.
Who ADF Is, and What Their Record Shows
ADF presents itself as a guardian of Christian family values. In 2022, the organization drafted at least 130 bills across 34 states, with more than 30 passing into law. That record includes fighting protections for minors in multiple contexts and, internationally, supporting efforts to criminalize same-sex relationships between adults. Our Education Hub documents where conversion therapy protections for minors currently exist by state.
ADF now argues in Chiles v. Salazar that "conversion therapy" should be permitted for minors. Reporting has noted that at least one ADF senior staff member is openly attracted to the same sex, and the organization has not directed him toward that therapy. That inconsistency is worth considering.
The Price Families Pay
"Conversion therapy" carries a measurable cost. A 2022 analysis in JAMA Pediatrics found the total annual direct cost among minors at approximately $650 million, with downstream harms including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide attempts driving the broader economic burden to $9.23 billion.
Those numbers reflect real families. Studies collected in our mental health research hub include research finding that children who experienced family rejection, including enrollment in "conversion therapy," were 8.4 times more likely to report attempting suicide and 5.9 times more likely to report severe depression. That is not a treatment outcome. That is a family breaking apart.
Many who went through these programs say their faith became the primary casualty. They were told God would change them. When nothing changed, they concluded God had abandoned them.
What Christian Parents Can Choose Instead
Parents do not have to choose between their faith and their children. Real support means strengthening the family bond, not gambling it on a promise no practitioner can keep. FreedHearts, Fortunate Families, and PFLAG's faith materials offer tools designed to reduce depression, self-harm risk, and family fracture.
No licensed professional can change who your child is. Parents who have found a different way forward share a common turning point: they stopped listening to practitioners and started listening to their child. No court ruling should give practitioners cover to exploit that love for profit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Chiles v. Salazar? A federal lawsuit in which an ADF-represented therapist is challenging Colorado's law against practicing "conversion therapy" on minors, arguing the law violates First Amendment speech protections. The 10th Circuit upheld Colorado's law in 2024, and the case continues.
Is "conversion therapy" medically supported? No major U.S. medical or mental health organization endorses it. JAMA Pediatrics estimated the practice generates $9.23 billion in annual economic burden when downstream harms are included.
Does banning "conversion therapy" force a particular outcome on children? No. Colorado's law prohibits practitioners from pursuing a predetermined goal of changing same-sex attraction or how a child sees themselves. Therapists may still help children explore identity, support faith-based values, discuss celibacy, and work with families.
What has ADF actually done in family law? ADF drafted at least 130 bills across 34 states in 2022, with more than 30 passing. The organization uses faith-grounded language to pursue legal changes that expand practitioner authority over children and families.
Where can Christian parents find faith-aligned support? FreedHearts, Fortunate Families, and PFLAG's faith resources offer research-grounded tools for families navigating these questions with their faith intact.
Publicaciones recientes
Gender Theory, Parental Rights, and Conversion Therapy: What Christian Families Are Actually Up Against
The real threat to parental authority is practitioners who exploit fear to sell a false promise. Families, not fringe practitioners, know what their children need.
Quick Takeaways
New ideas about how young people see themselves are spreading fast, and organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom are using that cultural moment to argue that conversion therapy should be available to minors through licensed therapists.
Chiles v. Salazar, a case still working through the federal courts, could strip states of authority to hold licensed practitioners accountable for harmful interventions on children.
"Conversion therapy" carries no credible clinical support and generates an estimated $9.23 billion economic burden annually, per JAMA Pediatrics.
The real threat to parental authority is practitioners who exploit fear to sell a false promise. Families, not fringe practitioners, know what their children need.
Christian parents are trying to make sense of a cultural landscape that feels like it shifted overnight. New ideas about how young people see themselves arrive through school curricula, social media, and even pediatricians' offices. Somewhere in the noise, someone may offer conversion therapy as the faithful answer.
It is not.
What Chiles v. Salazar Means for Your Family
In 2019, Colorado passed the Minor Conversion Therapy Law, prohibiting licensed therapists from practicing "conversion therapy" on minors. The law does not touch pastors, youth ministers, or faith-based counselors. It applies only to licensed mental health professionals who already must follow professional standards to keep their credentials.
A therapist named Kaley Chiles, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), is challenging that law. Her argument: because therapy involves talking, and talking is protected by the First Amendment, Colorado cannot regulate what she says in session.
ADF frames this as defending parental rights. But families should ask who actually gains power if the argument succeeds. If therapy is reclassified as protected speech, state medical boards lose significant authority to hold practitioners accountable for what they do behind closed doors. That does not protect parents. It protects practitioners and shifts authority away from families toward strangers with licenses.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Colorado's law in 2024. The case continues.
Who ADF Is, and What Their Record Shows
ADF presents itself as a guardian of Christian family values. In 2022, the organization drafted at least 130 bills across 34 states, with more than 30 passing into law. That record includes fighting protections for minors in multiple contexts and, internationally, supporting efforts to criminalize same-sex relationships between adults. Our Education Hub documents where conversion therapy protections for minors currently exist by state.
ADF now argues in Chiles v. Salazar that "conversion therapy" should be permitted for minors. Reporting has noted that at least one ADF senior staff member is openly attracted to the same sex, and the organization has not directed him toward that therapy. That inconsistency is worth considering.
The Price Families Pay
"Conversion therapy" carries a measurable cost. A 2022 analysis in JAMA Pediatrics found the total annual direct cost among minors at approximately $650 million, with downstream harms including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide attempts driving the broader economic burden to $9.23 billion.
Those numbers reflect real families. Studies collected in our mental health research hub include research finding that children who experienced family rejection, including enrollment in "conversion therapy," were 8.4 times more likely to report attempting suicide and 5.9 times more likely to report severe depression. That is not a treatment outcome. That is a family breaking apart.
Many who went through these programs say their faith became the primary casualty. They were told God would change them. When nothing changed, they concluded God had abandoned them.
What Christian Parents Can Choose Instead
Parents do not have to choose between their faith and their children. Real support means strengthening the family bond, not gambling it on a promise no practitioner can keep. FreedHearts, Fortunate Families, and PFLAG's faith materials offer tools designed to reduce depression, self-harm risk, and family fracture.
No licensed professional can change who your child is. Parents who have found a different way forward share a common turning point: they stopped listening to practitioners and started listening to their child. No court ruling should give practitioners cover to exploit that love for profit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Chiles v. Salazar? A federal lawsuit in which an ADF-represented therapist is challenging Colorado's law against practicing "conversion therapy" on minors, arguing the law violates First Amendment speech protections. The 10th Circuit upheld Colorado's law in 2024, and the case continues.
Is "conversion therapy" medically supported? No major U.S. medical or mental health organization endorses it. JAMA Pediatrics estimated the practice generates $9.23 billion in annual economic burden when downstream harms are included.
Does banning "conversion therapy" force a particular outcome on children? No. Colorado's law prohibits practitioners from pursuing a predetermined goal of changing same-sex attraction or how a child sees themselves. Therapists may still help children explore identity, support faith-based values, discuss celibacy, and work with families.
What has ADF actually done in family law? ADF drafted at least 130 bills across 34 states in 2022, with more than 30 passing. The organization uses faith-grounded language to pursue legal changes that expand practitioner authority over children and families.
Where can Christian parents find faith-aligned support? FreedHearts, Fortunate Families, and PFLAG's faith resources offer research-grounded tools for families navigating these questions with their faith intact.