Washington Goes To Court To Defend Conversion Therapy Ban

SEATTLE — Representatives for the Washington Attorney General's Office appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit early Tuesday to defend the state's ban on conversion therapy.

In 2018, Washington passed SB 5722, banning conversion therapy in the Evergreen State.

"In the last year, 29 percent of LGBTQ youth attempted suicide, leading to countless tragic deaths that might easily have been saved," bill sponsor Sen. Marko Liias (D-Lynnwood) said. "Banning the barbaric practice of 'conversion therapy' and taking active steps to reduce bullying, harassment and intimidation will literally save people's lives."

Senate Bill 5766 also bans counselors from religious organizations in offering gay conversion therapies.

Conversion therapy purports to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. Once relatively common, the process has since been re-evaluated as a harmful and antiquated process, and one that can have painful consequences: several studies have found the therapy not only doesn't work, but can seriously harm young LGBTQ+ people.

Hoping to overturn the bam, Brian Tingley, a state-licensed marriage and family therapist, filed a lawsuit against the state. Tingley's lawsuit was dismissed by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan in August 2021. In his ruling, Bryan wrote that Washington had a vested interest “in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, and in protecting its minors against exposure to serious harm caused by conversion therapy,” finding that the law did not infringe on health professionals’ First Amendment rights, as Tingley's suit argued.

Tingley has since appealed the decision, taking it to the Ninth Circuit where it is now being debated anew. According to the Attorney General's Office, this is the third time the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has been asked to uphold a ban on conversion therapy for minors. In both previous cases, the court upheld state's rights to ban conversion therapy.