Today, Advocates for Faith and Freedom, together with North Carolina Values Institute, filed an amicus curiae brief in the Chiles v. Salazar case, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case which challenges Colorado’s “Censorship Law” for licensed counselors. This law targets faith-based counseling practices by prohibiting speech that aligns with traditional, religious values regarding gender identity and sexual orientation. Yet, the same law allows, and even encourages, conversations that the government favors regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.  Such blatant viewpoint discrimination violates the First Amendment’s protections for free speech and religious liberty.

Colorado’s law compels counselors to suppress their deeply held beliefs, forcing faith-based professionals to choose between their livelihoods and their faith. Counseling is a profession that uniquely touches religion. Religion and counseling both involve speech, thoughts, emotions, conduct, conscience, morality, and values. Counselors are not robots, and values cannot be extracted from counseling. Persons who seek counseling are best served by a system that incorporates respect for the values and conscience of both counselor and counselee. Colorado’s unconstitutional law fails to do so.

Advocates for Faith and Freedom is committed to protecting the foundational freedoms of speech and religion, ensuring counselors can serve their clients without compromising their faith. This case represents a critical moment for the Supreme Court to reaffirm constitutional principles and safeguard the rights of people of faith.

Thank you for standing with us as we defend these essential freedoms.

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Advocates for Faith & Freedom is a non-profit law firm dedicated to protecting constitutional and religious liberty in the courts. Our mission is to engage in cases that will uphold our religious liberty and America’s heritage and to educate Americans about our fundamental constitutional rights.