WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys
WHAT: Available for media interviews following hearing in Tingley v. Brown
WHEN: Immediately following hearing, which begins at 1:30 p.m. PDT, Thursday, July 30
WHERE: U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, 1717 Pacific Ave., Room 3100, Tacoma. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Manager Jonathan Bridges at 703-859-0428.
TACOMA, Wash. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a licensed marriage and family therapist in Washington state will be available for media interviews Thursday following a hearing before a federal district court in Tingley v. Brown.
Brian Tingley has more than 20 years of experience counseling adults and minors, including many who seek his help because they share his Christian worldview. However, in 2018, Washington state enacted a counseling censorship law that prohibits Tingley from helping young people with gender-related distress who voluntarily seek to grow comfortable with their bodies. The law also prohibits Tingley from counseling minors who seek his help living consistently with their moral beliefs about sexuality.
“There is an epidemic of mental health issues among young people today. These kids and their parents often come to Brian Tingley because they feel most comfortable with a counselor who shares their faith. Yet Washington prohibits these voluntary conversations,” said ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, who will argue before the court on behalf of Tingley. “Courts must check Washington’s ideological crusade because it violates the First Amendment and deprives children of the help that they seek.”
Tingley challenged the Washington law in 2021, but the district court dismissed his case under a 2014 U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit precedent upholding a similar California law. Tingley appealed the case up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear his case in 2023. Then, in March 2026, the Supreme Court ruled in another ADF case, Chiles v. Salazar, that counseling conversations are protected speech and that a materially identical Colorado law discriminated based on viewpoint by censoring speech-only counseling that helps kids accept their bodies or live consistent with their moral beliefs. ADF attorneys are asking the Washington district court to reopen Tingley’s case in light of the Chiles decision and free Tingley to help minors struggling with gender confusion.
- Pronunciation guide: Widmalm-Delphonse (VEED’-malm Del-FONS’)
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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