Scholars who have studied conversion therapy are accusing the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) of misrepresenting their work to the Supreme Court.

As the Supreme Court starts a new session, it will hear oral arguments today in a case that could impact conversion therapy bans across the country. But some researchers are already speaking out about how their work has been used to oppose LGBTQ+ equality.

“They claim our work supports conversion therapy when our work clearly and specifically condemns conversion therapy on the same page they’re citing,” Clifford Rosky, a University of Utah professor of constitutional law and civil rights, told The Guardian. “This is the most upsetting use of my scholarship that has ever happened in my career […] It’s upsetting because this is lethally dangerous to LGBTQ+ kids.”

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187 congressional Dems ask Supreme Court to protect bans against “cruel” conversion therapy

The case is being brought by Kaley Chiles, a Christian counselor who is being represented by the ADF in a challenge backed by the presidential administration. Chiles claims that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy, a discredited practice that attempts to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity and rooted in the misguided idea that gay and trans people can be “cured,” limits her free speech as she has to censor herself with clients.

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The case is set to decide whether conversations a therapist has with their patients are classed as medical treatment or as protected speech under the First Amendment. If the Supreme Court declares that therapy is protected speech, it could mean challenges will be brought in the more than 25 states that have a full or partial ban on conversion therapy.

Conversion therapy is widely discredited by medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, with research showing an increase in depression and attempted suicide in patients exposed to it. Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, said in a statement, “These efforts, no matter what proponents call them, are proven to cause lasting psychological harm; LGBTQ+ youth subjected to conversion therapy are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide compared to their peers.”

The petition from the ADF includes citations from two researchers, Rosky and Dr. Lisa Diamond, who have said their work is being deliberately misrepresented. It also cites the work of Dr. Nicholas Cummings, who passed away in 2020 and whose family wrote an open letter in 2023 asserting that he had “strongly condemned all forms of conversion therapy” and that his work had been “manipulated by those who support an anti-gay agenda.” Two other citations lead to anonymous posts and articles, one of which has since been removed.

“They are using our work to minimize the harm of conversion therapy. There are few practices where there is as much demonstrated evidence of harm,” Diamond told The Guardian. While her work has examined the fluidity that can be seen in someone’s sexuality over their lifetime, she states that the ADF is ignoring the difference between naturally occurring sexual fluidity and intentional efforts to force someone’s identity to change through fear and shame.

ADF’s use of her research on fluidity is “erasing the fact that conversion therapy is motivated by shame, fear of disconnection, fear of expulsion, fear of the loss of God’s love, fear of abandonment. Those are triggers of suicidality. That’s where the damage comes in.”

In this case, Chiles specifically highlights a desire to use conversion therapy to “treat” gender dysphoria. The Supreme Court ruled on another case related to trans care earlier this year in United States v. Skrmetti, where they handed down a ruling that allows for gender-affirming care bans against trans youth. Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, suggested, according to Axios, that “It would be so hypocritical for the court to say states can ban health care for transgender youth, but they can’t restrict conversion therapy for young people. It would be very distressing and disturbing to see that blatant type of inconsistency.”

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