Maine leaders on Tuesday criticized a Supreme Court ruling against a law banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors in Colorado. The practice has been banned in Maine since 2019.

An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor, who argues the law in Colorado, banning talk therapy, violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass, The Associated Press reported.

A spokesperson for Maine Gov. Janet Mills said in an emailed statement that “conversion therapy is a harmful, widely discredited practice that has no place in Maine, which is why the governor was proud to sign legislation in 2019 to ban the practice.”

“She stands in full support of Maine law and young LGBTQ people in Maine and across the country who stand to be harmed by today’s Supreme Court ruling,” the statement said.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, said the Colorado law “censors speech based on viewpoint.” The First Amendment, he wrote, “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”

In a solo dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that states should be free to regulate health care, even if that means incidental restrictions on speech. The decision, Jackson wrote, “opens a dangerous can of worms” that “threatens to impair states’ ability to regulate the provision of medical care in any respect.”

The decision is the latest in a line of recent cases in which the justices have backed claims of religious discrimination while taking a skeptical view of LGBTQ+ rights, according to The Associated Press.

It was not immediately clear what impact the ruling could have on other states, including Maine, that have implemented bans. In 2019, Maine became the 17th state to ban conversion therapy for minors following a multiyear effort supported by young people and advocates for the LGBTQ community.

Maine’s law prohibits state-licensed counselors, psychologists, social workers, health professionals, guidance counselors, and pastoral and family therapists from engaging in conversion therapy.

It defines conversion therapy as “any practice or treatment that seeks or claims to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including, but not limited to, any effort to change gender expression or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions, feelings or behavior toward others based on the individual’s gender.”

Maine’s law does not prohibit treatment for people undergoing gender transition, counseling that seeks to prevent unsafe sexual practices or any “neutral” talk therapy intended to help a minor cope with issues.

Gia Drew, who serves as executive director of EqualityMaine and advocated for Maine’s ban, said it was “heart wrenching” to see the Supreme Court’s ruling, especially on International Transgender Day of Visibility. Drew said that while the ruling is disappointing, she’s hopeful Maine’s law will stay intact and that changes can be made to make it more robust if needed.

“This is a pretty narrow ruling related to Colorado law,” Drew said. “We believe that conversion therapy is still against the law in Maine and youth are still protected from the dangerous practice of conversion therapy.”

Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, who shared his own experience with conversion therapy when he introduced the bill to ban it, said in a statement Tuesday that the practice “has been disavowed by major mental health organizations and for a reason — it is wrong. He called the court’s ruling “dangerous.”

“It legitimizes an overwhelmingly discredited practice that causes harm to young people,” he said in the statement.

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey last August joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of Colorado’s ban. A spokesperson for Frey’s office declined to comment on the Supreme Court ruling when reached Tuesday.

In the Colorado case, Counselor Kaley Chiles, with support from President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, said the law wrongly bars her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy for kids. Chiles contends her approach is different from “conversion therapy” practices from decades ago, like shock therapy. Her attorneys argued that the ban makes it hard for parents to find therapists willing to discuss gender identity with kids unless the counseling affirms transition.

Colorado disagreed, saying its law does allow wide-ranging conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation and exempts religious ministries. The state says the measure simply bars using therapy to try to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations, a practice that has been scientifically discredited and linked to serious harm.

The law doesn’t violate the First Amendment, Colorado argued, because therapy is different from other types of speech since it’s a form of health care that the state has a responsibility to regulate.

The 2019 law carries the possibility of fines and license suspension, but no one has been sanctioned under it.

This story contains reporting from Associated Press reporter Lindsay Whitehurst.