Washington therapist's legal challenge to counseling law to be reopened

A federal district court in Washington has agreed to reopen a legal challenge brought by a marriage and family therapist against a 2018 state law. The therapist, Tingley, contends that the law, known as SB 5722, constitutes censorship of his speech.

The 2018 law prohibits counselors from providing services to minors seeking to live consistently with their biological sex or moral beliefs regarding sexuality, a measure the state legislature enacted to protect youth from conversion therapy. Attorneys for Tingley, representing him through the Alliance Defending Freedom, argue the law creates a viewpoint-based restriction by allowing support for gender transition while prohibiting counseling aimed at achieving comfort with one's biological sex.

The decision to reopen the case follows a March 2026 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Chiles v. Salazar. In that case, the high court found a nearly identical Colorado law unconstitutional, ruling that counseling conversations are protected speech and that the law discriminated based on viewpoint.