U.S. appeals court upholds Washington state's conversion therapy ban
Sept. 6 — A U.S. federal appeals court on Tuesday unanimously upheld Washington state’s ban on conversion therapy for children, rejecting a therapist’s claim
Sept. 6 — A U.S. federal appeals court on Tuesday unanimously upheld Washington state’s ban on conversion therapy for children, rejecting a therapist’s claim that it undermined his free speech and targeted him because he is Christian.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Washington’s legislature acted rationally and did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment by imposing the ban to protect the “physical and psychological well-being” of children.
Enacted in 2018, the ban subjects licensed health care providers to discipline, including possible fines and license suspensions or revocations, for trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of people under age 18.
Inside the effort to ban conversion therapyFeb. 22, 202206:00More than 20 U.S. states have laws against conversion therapy.
“Washington, like other states, has concluded that health care providers should not be able to treat a child by such means as telling him that he is ‘the abomination we had heard about in Sunday school,’” Circuit Judge Ronald Gould wrote for a three-judge panel.
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