SW News: American non-profit civil rights outfit Alliance Defending Freedom has asked SCOTUS to issue a ruling on a law in Washington state that prevents therapists from counseling patients with the aim of preventing their gender realignment. A petition in this regard was filed on Monday on behalf of Brian Tingley, a licensed marriage and family therapist. He has alleged that the law is unconstitutional as it bans private client-counselor conversations regarding sexual orientation and gender.

ADF’s petition said the Washington law only permits counseling conversations that are aimed at leading young men and women towards a trans identity. On the other hand, it does not allow therapists to counsel clients and convince them to desist from gender realignment.

"There are no legal consequences if Petitioner Brian Tingley tells his neighbor about the emerging international medical consensus to treat gender dysphoria with watchful waiting instead of affirmation," reads ADF’s petition.

"But if he discusses that same topic in the same way with a counseling client, the State of Washington can strip his license under Washington’s Counseling Censorship Law… That Law prohibits counselors from engaging in any ‘regime that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity,’ while exempting counseling that "support[s] … identity exploration" without "seeking to change sexual orientation or gender identity.’"

ADF wants the Supreme Court to reverse the verdict of the 9th Circuit Court which ratified a district court decision to dismiss the challenge to the law posed by Tingley. The Circuit Court said in its ruling “Washington’s law prohibiting licensed mental health providers from practicing conversion therapy on minors is not unconstitutionally vague.” However, the civil rights organization alleges that the law in effect prohibits all sorts of protected speech between therapists and their patients. Those who violate the law can be penalized with a fine of 5,000 USD for each transgression, suspended from practice and their license permanently canceled.