Federal Court Shoots Down Challenge to Washington's Ban on Gay Therapy

Timothy Birdnow

A federal court has rejected a legal challenge to Washington State's ban on conversion therapy for homosexual kids.

From the Christian Post:

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan issued an order Mondayruling against family therapist Brian Tingley, who sued Washington over its ban on therapy practices to help those with unwanted same-sex attraction.

In his ruling, Bryan rejected Tingley's argument that the law violated his freedom of speech or conscience.

"The Washington Conversion Law does not restrain the dissemination of information. It prohibits a licensed therapist from engaging in a specific type of conduct,” wrote Bryan.

"Plaintiff is free to express and exercise his religious beliefs; he is merely prohibited from engaging in a specific type of conduct while acting as a counselor.”

Roger Brooks, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom who represented Tingley in court last week, said in a statement emailed to The Christian Post that he believed all Americans "deserve the right to private conversations, free from government censorship.”

"Washington’s counseling censorship law targets people of faith and threatens to stand between Brian’s clients and the personal counseling goals they choose to pursue with his help,” stated Brooks.

"As the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recognized just last year in the Otto v. Boca Raton decision, laws like this Washington state law violate the First Amendment rights that all Americans rightly treasure.”

It is unfortunate that the unfortunately named Brian Tingley (an amazing irony for a man who tries to convert young people from the gay lifestyle) used Freedom of Speech as his primary argument; it is recognized that licensed therapy is regulated by the State. He needed to use a more compelling legal argument.

But of course, the hippies in Washington State no doubt promote gender reassignment for young kids, putting the lie to the claim this is about protecting the health of young people. Sex changes are child abuse, plain and simple.

So it's o.k. to change the SEX of a child but not the sexual attraction?

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 11:21 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 346 words, total size 3 kb.