Google searches for “conversion therapy” in those states also declined, suggesting the laws successfully deterred both providers and consumers. Later research by Overhage et al. (2025) expanded this, focusing specifically on high schoolers using the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. In the two years following a ban, the rate of students "seriously considering suicide" was 2.9 percentage points lower (a ~17% relative reduction).

For lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth, the impact was even greater: a 4.6 percentage point reduction (an ~11% reduction). Even not-full bans appear to shift the social and clinical landscape enough to protect the most vulnerable.

All that to say, I hope states figure out how to rewrite these laws to work around the “viewpoint-based” constraint. Washington State's similar law (18.130.020) is likely facing a similar fate to Colorado’s, as it is more obviously viewpoint based.