WASHINGTON — A majority of Supreme Court justices on Tuesday seemed likely to side with a Christian counselor challenging bans on LGBTQ+ “conversion therapy” for kids as a violation of her First Amendment rights.

Kaley Chiles, with support from President Donald Trump’s administration, argues the laws passed by about half of U.S. states wrongly bar her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy for kids.

She’s challenging the law in Colorado. The state says its measure simply regulates licensed therapists by barring a practice that’s been scientifically discredited and linked to serious harm.

But the court’s conservative majority didn’t seem convinced that states can restrict talk therapy aimed at changing feelings or behavior while allowing counseling that affirms kids identifying as gay or transgender. Justice Samuel Alito said the law “looks like blatant viewpoint discrimination.”

The case blends two trends in the recent decisions of a court that’s backed several claims of religious discrimination and taken a more skeptical view in LGBTQ rights cases. The court is also expected to hear a case this term over which sports teams transgender athletes can join. A decision in Tuesday’s case is expected by June.

Chiles contends her approach is different from the kind of conversion therapy once associated with practices like shock therapy decades ago. She said she believes “people flourish when they live consistently with God’s design, including their biological sex.”

Her attorneys argue the bans make it difficult for parents to find a therapist willing to work on gender identity unless the counseling specifically affirms transition.

“Ms. Chiles is being silenced, and the kids and families who want her help are unable to access it,” said attorney James Campbell. Violating the law carries potential fines of $5,000 and license suspension or even revocation.

The Republican administration argued the Colorado law suppresses therapists’ speech, and should be subject to the higher legal standard of strict scrutiny, one that few measures pass.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson questioned why the Colorado law should be struck down, while the court upheld a different measure from Tennessee that bans transition-related treatments for transgender kids.

“I’m just, from a very, very broad perspective, concerned about making sure that we have equivalence with respect to these things,” she said. The Justice Department counters that Tennessee’s law is different because it involves medical treatments rather than conversations between a patient and their therapist.