Washington Therapist’s Case Against Counseling Ban Reopened After Supreme Court Decision

August 11, 2026

A federal court has reopened a Christian therapist’s challenge to a Washington state law restricting counseling for minors who seek help with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion.

Christianity Daily reports that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington last Thursday revived Tingley v. Brown, a lawsuit brought by licensed therapist Brian Tingley against the state’s 2018 “conversion therapy” ban.

Then-Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5722 in 2018, prohibiting licensed therapists from providing sexual orientation change efforts therapy to minors.

Tingley had argued that the law prevents him from engaging in voluntary counseling conversations with young clients who share his Christian beliefs and are seeking his assistance.

According to Christianity Daily, Tingley sued the state in 2021, contending that although the measure contained religious exemptions, the law still violated protections for religious liberty and free speech.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected Tingley’s challenge in September 2022 and the 9th Circuit declined to rehear the case en banc in January 2023.

That legal landscape shifted in March of 2026 when the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Chiles v. Salazar that Colorado could not prohibit therapists from counseling minors seeking to change their sexual orientation or address gender dysphoria.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys say the Chiles decision undermines the reasoning previously used against Tingley.

Photo: top, Credit: Unsplash/Ian Hutchinson