Federal appeals court rules against hate group’s claim that ex-gay therapy is “free speech”

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A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling affirming that Washington state can legally ban conversion therapy, the widely debunked form of psychological torture that falsely claims to change people’s sexual orientations and gender identities.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against Brian Tingley, a licensed marriage counselor represented by the anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). ADF says its plans to appeal the court’s decision.

Tingley and his ADF lawyers sued the state in 2021, alleging that its 2018 law banning conversion therapy for minors violated his freedom of speech and religion. A federal judge threw Tingley’s case out in August 2021, saying that the state had the authority to regulate professional conduct. In response, ADF attorneys appealed to the Ninth Circuit court.

ADF attorneys argued that Tingley used “nothing but ordinary counseling methods” when addressing children’s “sexual-orientation and gender-identity struggles.” His attorneys also said that he didn’t conspire with parents to turn their kids straight. Instead, he said only worked with children who wished not to be LGBTQ, regardless of their parents’ wishes.

Despite their claims, the appeals court’s recent ruling noted that every major medical, psychiatric, psychological, and professional mental health organization opposes conversion therapy, Bloomberg Law reported.

The court wrote, “In relying on…

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