Supreme Court Declines To Take Up Challenge To ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban

The Supreme Court decided not to take up a challenge to Washington State’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors on Monday, allowing a lower court decision upholding the law to stand.

The High Court was divided in its decision, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh indicating he would have heard the case and conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito penning separate dissents. The law, called SB 5722, was passed in 2018 and adds “conversion therapy” for minors to the list of violations that could cost a therapist their license.

“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,” Justice Thomas wrote, continuing:

Expressing any other message is forbidden—even if the counselor’s clients ask for help to accept their biological sex. That is viewpoint-based and content-based discrimination in its purest form. As a result, SB 5722 is presumptively unconstitutional, and the state must show that it can survive strict scrutiny before enforcing it.

We are disappointed that SCOTUS will not hear Tingley v. Ferguson, our challenge to WA's Counseling Censorship Law.

This issue is not going away. As three Justices pointed out, such laws regulate speech in 20+ states. We urge the Court to take a similar case when the time comes.

— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) December 11, 2023