SEATTLE — What started as a therapist's concerns about a state law passed in 2018, is now a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District.
The law prohibits licensed health professionals from trying to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Brian Tingley is a licensed marriage and family therapist who has had his practice for more than 20 years. The Christian counselor is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
"The law essentially censors certain conversations that Brian wants to have with his clients. Many clients come to him. Often, they share the same religious beliefs as Brian does, and they come to him seeking help dealing with unwanted same sex attraction,” said Jake Warner, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom.
The Washington law banning conversion therapy comes from Senate Bill 5722. Senator Marko Liias sponsored it.
"We know that conversion therapy, so called conversion therapy, is deeply damaging to young people. There's a huge body of evidence that shows it causes lasting harm and it doesn't work,” said Liias.
Last year, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed Tingley's case, saying the law does not infringe on licensed health professionals' First Amendment rights.
Tingley appealed, and on Tuesday his counsel and the Attorney General's Office went before the federal appeals court.
The Attorney General's Office argued that conversion therapy is a discredited and harmful practice.
"What's at stake is whether or not basically quack medicine can be used to treat individuals who are gay and try and convert them and become a heterosexual,” said Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson. "Medical experts all across country recognize this doesn't work and actually does harm to those young people. And that's why the state has banned it. What's at issue now is whether or not individuals can actually practice that form of medicine."
It could take weeks, even months, before the court issues a decision.