TACOMA, Wash. – The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington decided Thursday to reopen a licensed marriage and family therapist’s challenge to a Washington state law censoring his speech.
In the case, Tingley v. Brown, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent Brian Tingley, who 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 prohibited Tingley from helping young people with gender-related distress who voluntarily seek to grow comfortable with their bodies. The law also prohibited Tingley from counseling minors who seek his help to live consistently with their moral beliefs about sexuality.
“There is an epidemic of mental health issues among young people today. They and their parents often come to Brian Tingley because they feel most comfortable with a counselor who shares their faith, yet the state prohibited these voluntary conversations,” said ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, who argued before the court on behalf of Tingley Thursday. “We’re pleased the court reined in Washington state’s ideological crusade because it violated the First Amendment and deprived children of the help that they seek.”
Tingley challenged the Washington law in 2021, but the district court dismissed his case. Tingley appealed the case all the way 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. The high court also found 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 asked the federal district court in Washington to reopen Tingley’s case in light of the Chiles decision, which the court did. Tingley will now have his day in court to challenge Washington’s blatantly unconstitutional law and defend his right to help minors struggling with gender confusion.
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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