The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a challenge to a Washington state law prohibiting counselors from engaging in conversations that encourage changes to a minor’s “sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The law, adopted in 2018, threatens to fine counselors who violate it up to $5,000 and to revoke their license. The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear Tingley v. Ferguson, Christian family counselor Brian Tingley’s First Amendment challenge to the state’s “Counseling Censorship Law,” though Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas noted they would have taken the case.
“Under SB 5722, licensed counselors can speak with minors about gender dysphoria, but only if they convey the state-approved message of encouraging minors to explore their gender identities,” Thomas wrote in a short dissenting opinion. “Expressing…
