Important Takeaways:
- 9th Circuit Rules Against Christian Therapist, Upholds Censorship of Biblical Truth Under ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban
- A licensed Christian therapist, Brian Tingley, whose marriage and family counseling practice is located in Fircrest, Washington, filed suit against Washington’s conversion therapy ban in May 2021.
- In his lawsuit Tingley contended that the ban, which was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2018, amounted to censorship of his free speech rights to counsel patients through a plethora of issues including gender dysphoria, sexual orientation and unwanted same-sex attraction.
- “Washington State seeks to insert itself into the privacy of Plaintiff’s counseling room and censor his discussion and exploration of certain ideas with his young clients,” claimed the suit. “The Law threatens severe sanctions—including substantial fines, suspension from practice, and even loss of his license and livelihood—if Plaintiff speaks ideas, and assists his clients towards goals, of which the State disapproves.”
- But Circuit Judge Ronald Gould wrote in the panel opinion that the law “does not violate the First or Fourteenth Amendments” because the state has the power to regulate medical practices.
- More than 20 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., have laws against “conversion therapy”—a loaded term meant to discredit any counseling that upholds Biblical sexual ethics by attempting to tie it to unethical and outdated “change” practices used by some psychiatrist’s decades ago.
- Roger Brooks, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) who represents Tingley, said they plan to appeal the court’s latest ruling.
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