A majority of the United States population live in jurisdictions that have banned conversion therapyâÂÂa family of widely debunked and abusive medical, spiritual and psychological practices that falsely claim to be able to change a person's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expressionâÂÂon minors.
27 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and more than 100 municipalities have instituted bans on conversion therapy and its governmental funding, with penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment. The District of Columbia is the only U.S. jurisdiction whose ban also applies to adults. Three states ban the use of state and federal funds for conversion therapy on minors.
Surveys held in 2014 and 2020 found that a majority of Americans supported bans on conversion therapy for minors, and do not believe the practice was effective. A 2023 report by The Trevor Project found that there are over 1,300 active conversion therapists still operating in 48 U.S. states, with over 600 of these practitioners holding active professional licenses.
Conversion therapy bans involving talk therapy began to face legal challenges in the 2020s, under allegations that it constitutes protected speech under the First Amendment. In 2020, the Eleventh Circuit overturned conversion therapy bans in Florida, under the argument that upholding the bill could theoretically allow gender-affirming therapy to also be prohibited by jurisdictions in a similar fashion. In 2026, the Supreme Court ruled in Chiles v. Salazar that a ruling on Colorado's conversion therapy ban as applied to a plantiff needed to be reviewed under strict scrutiny, as it considered regulation of talk therapy to be viewpoint discrimination.
Despite the lack of federal legislation regarding bans on conversion therapy, such therapy has been banned by numerous therapy organizations operating in the U.S. It has been banned by the American Psychiatric Association since 1998. In 2009, conversion therapy was also rebuked by the American Psychological Association. Others include the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Physician Assistants, and many more.
As of February 2021, fourteen cities/counties have passed non-binding resolutions or proclamations declaring opposition to conversion therapy. These are Edgewater, Colorado; Westminster, Colorado; Wheat Ridge, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; Atlanta, Georgia; Worcester, Massachusetts; Columbia, Missouri; Suffolk County, New York; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Appleton, Wisconsin; Eau Claire County, Wisconsin; Richmond, Virginia; Rochester, Minnesota; and Shorewood, Wisconsin.
The New Jersey ban on conversion therapy was upheld by district judge Freda L. Wolfson; the case was brought upon by parents who alleged that it violated their rights under the First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, and to freedom of religion. Wolfson upheld the ban, ruling that the law regulated conduct and not speech.
In August 2013, California's ban was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pickup v. Brown and Welch v. Brown. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal against the ruling. In February 2015, the New Jersey Superior Court issued a pre-trial ruling in Ferguson v. JONAH, finding that offering conversion services on the basis of a description of homosexuality as "abnormal" or a mental illness violated the state's consumer fraud act. In June 2015, the Court ordered JONAH to pay damages and cease all operations, and prohibited its founder Arthur A. Goldberg from further practicing any form of conversion therapy in the state of New Jersey.
In 2020, the Eleventh Circuit ruled that a ban on conversion therapy enforced by Palm Beach County and Boca Raton, Florida violated the First Amendment rights of therapists, as upholding the statute could also allow ordinances that prohibit gender-affirming mental health assistance, and "people have intense moral, religious, and spiritual views about these mattersâÂÂon all sides. And that is exactly why the First Amendment does not allow communities to determine how their neighbors may be counseled about matters of sexual orientation or gender.
In March 2023, the state of Indiana passed a bill prohibiting local governments from regulating services that are licensed or specifically exempt from licensure from the state, including behavioral therapy (and, in turn, conversion therapy). This bill was originally intended to effectively target conversion therapy (being tabled in retaliation for an attempt to institute a conversion therapy ban for unlicensed practitioners in West Lafayette, Indiana), but was extended in the legislative process to also include other categories of state-licensed services beyond behavioral health.
In March 2026, the Supreme Court ruled in Chiles v. Salazar that portions of Colorado's conversion therapy ban in regards to talk therapy must be reviewed with strict scrutiny by lower courts, overturning a ruling against a Colorado therapist who was requesting an as-applied challenge over the ban. The majority opinion found that this portion of the ban constituted the regulation of speech based on viewpoints, and that "the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country".
On September 18, 2024, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) signed an executive order prohibiting the use of state funds for conversion therapy on minors, and barring medical professionals from practicing conversion therapy on minors, but this ban was overturned by the state legislature, which overrode Beshear's veto to pass a bill that rescinds his executive order on March 27, 2025.
On May 16, 2023, the Waterloo, Iowa City Council voted 6âÂÂ1 to ban conversion therapy on minors by medical professionals. On August 21, 2023, this ordinance was removed.
In June 2025, Attorney General of Virginia Jason Miyares entered into a consent decree to not enforce the ban on talk conversion therapy.
On June 15, 2021, the Columbia City Council passed an ordinance in a 4âÂÂ3 vote which makes conversion therapy a civil violation for licensed counselors or therapists, punishable by a $500 fine. The measure was repealed in a 4âÂÂ3 vote on June 24, 2025, under threat of loss of funding from the state.