WATCH: Washington therapist takes "counseling censorship" fight back to court

A Washington state marriage and family therapist will pursue another legal challenge to a 2018 state law prohibiting certain counseling approaches for minors experiencing gender-related distress. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington agreed July 31 to reopen the case of Brian Tingley after the Supreme Court ruled in March 2026 in a similar Colorado case that such restrictions violate free speech protections. Alliance Defending Freedom, representing Tingley, argued the law amounts to viewpoint censorship by allowing counselors to support gender transition while prohibiting counseling to help minors accept their biological sex.

Washington's SB 5722, enacted in 2018, was designed to protect minors from conversion therapy and serious harms, according to the bill's text. Tingley initially challenged the law in 2021, but the district court dismissed the case; the Supreme Court declined to hear it in 2023. The court granted a preliminary injunction protecting Tingley's speech rights pending the case's resolution.