State orthodoxies police professional speech

When legislatures write licensing and conduct rules to privilege one set of identity‑affirming messages and penalize dissenting therapeutic approaches, they may be enforcing an ideological orthodoxy through professional regulation. The Colorado law at issue and the Supreme Court’s reversal show this dynamic playing out in mental‑health practice and constitutional law. — This frames a recurring conflict: democratic majorities using occupational regulation to shape acceptable speech, which has broad implications for free speech, health regulation, and religious liberty.