The Supreme Court of the United States has reversed a ban that prohibits therapists from having conversations aimed at changing the sexual and gender orientation of minors.

The ruling favoured Kaley Chiles, the plaintiff, who affirmed herself a Christian offering talk therapy to help minors reduce attraction for same sex or change their birth-assigned genders.

In an 8-1 ruling, senior jurists on Tuesday struck out a Colorado state ruling, deciding that the First Amendment protects free speech from therapists and does not limit the topics to broach with minors.

“The First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country,” Justice Neil Gorsuch opined in a ruling for the court’s majority.

The apex court returned the matter to the lower court in Colorado for further scrutiny and, hopefully, to declare the ban on talk therapy unconstitutional, given that it censors the speech of counsellors.

Democratic-run states have long held the belief that therapists are not licensed health professionals, hence lack the authority to sway a minor through subtle conversations into retaining their birth-assigned gender.

The belief subsequently translated into a ban across Colorado and about 22 other states, criminalising therapy sessions that could discourage minors seeking to be gay or transgender.

The ban had been in place for over a decade until Kaley Chiles challenged it in court.  According to the Christian counsellor, she sought to help minors navigate and eliminate unwanted sexual feelings.

Two lower courts in Colorado dismissed Ms Chiles’ suit, but she requested the intervention of the Supreme Court.