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A U.S. federal appeals court has 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.
The court is agreeing with WA State A/G Bob Ferguson and the Democrat-controlled state legislature: No Christian counseling is allowed for children needing spiritual help with unwanted attraction to the same sex.
Let's take a closer look at what this means---and could mean in the future.
Be informed, not misled.
A leftist view of a spiritual matter.
Washington State enacted the ban in 2018. It 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.
The fact that more than 20 states have also enacted similar bans on Christian counseling doesn't make it right or legal under the Constitution's provision for freedom of religious expression, or freedom of speech, in my opinion.
Circuit Judge Ronald Gould wrote for the three-judge panel, "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'."
Gould continued, "States do not lose the power to regulate the safety of medical treatments performed under the authority of a state license merely because those treatments are implemented through speech rather than through scalpel."
Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson welcomed the decision. He previously defended the state's ban on Christian counseling or "conversion therapy" as they call it, because he said in a statement, "Conversion therapy does not work and can be particularly harmful to minors."
Is he saying biblical teaching does not work? If this position stands, what's next? Will Christians soon be told we cannot tell sinners that accepting Jesus Christ as Savior forgives our sins, because there are other secularists who believe otherwise. Or simply don't believe there is such a thing as sin?
Reuters supports his claim by reminding its reader, "The American Psychological Association has called conversion therapy harmful to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people."
What about other qualified medical groups that claim the LGBTQ indoctrination of these same children is very harmful and transitioning can be very destructive?
The National Review published an article in May titled, "The Danger of Social Transitioning," in which they say, "Each of the three stages of 'gender affirmation' therapy — social, medical, and surgical — leads to the next. If a child’s parents, teachers, and peers have all 'affirmed' him in his belief that he is a girl, he is more likely to pursue puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. And once these hormonal changes set in, he is more likely to seek out genital surgery."
Before the cultural mainstreaming of transgenderism, gender-distressed children were not socially transitioned. Rather, they were treated with observational talk therapies aimed at helping them feel more comfortable with their sex. These were very successful. A small but strong body of research consistently demonstrated that 80 percent of these children grew out of their gender distress by the end of adolescence.
Accepting one’s sex was considered the ideal outcome because it is obviously easier for a child to change his thinking than to chemically and surgically alter his body — and in so doing become a lifetime medical patient.
But what would happen if gender-distressed children were given therapies aimed at encouraging them to reject their sex?
The New York Times reported: "Young children who transition to a new gender with social changes — taking on new names, pronouns, haircuts, and clothing — are likely to continue identifying as that gender five years later, according to a report published on Wednesday, the first study of its kind."
The National Review responds, "Of course, trans activists will use this to argue that they are right. 'See! Our way works!' Yes, it works in achieving their preferred outcome. But for everyone else, all this really does is show us what we already knew: that social transitioning puts children on a pathway to medical harm. This is precisely why the dangers of social transitioning ought not to be underestimated."
The American College of Pediatricians has published considerable information on this matter.
They say, "There is not a single long-term study to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for transgender-believing youth. This means that youth transition is experimental, and therefore, parents cannot provide informed consent, nor can minors provide assent for these interventions. Moreover, the best long-term evidence we have among adults shows that medical intervention fails to reduce suicide."
In the article linked above they state with medical sourcing:
- Puberty blockers may cause mental illness.
- Puberty blockers may cause permanent physical harm.
- Cross-sex hormones (testosterone for women: estrogen for men) may disrupt mental health.
- Other health risks are correlated with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones
And in conclusion:
- Transgender interventions for children are experimental and dangerous.
There is not a single long-term study to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for transgender-believing youth. This means that youth transition is experimental, and therefore, parents cannot provide informed consent, nor can minors provide assent for these interventions. Moreover, the best long-term evidence we have among adults shows that medical intervention fails to reduce suicide.
The hypocritical Left.
This is only a sampling of how many medical writers and doctors feel about "transitioning." Yet the Washington State Legislature, State Attorney General Ferguson, Gov. Inslee, and other so-called "progressive" leaders in the state seem to have no hesitation to board this experimental transition train ride to an unknown destination---at the expense of dysphoric children and desperate parents.
Yet without any apparent consideration or hesitation, they mock Sunday School, rip pages out of the Bible and toss them in the trash if they don't affirm the pop culture narrative on human sexuality and gender--- and they legally block anyone who finds value, deliverance, healing, and restoration through the power of God and His Word.
I don't know the Christian therapist Brian Tingley from the Tacoma area that filed the suit in the first place, but I do believe he's on the right track. And he has excellent legal representation in Alliance Defending Freedom.
Roger Brooks, a lawyer for Tingley, says his client plans to appeal; "The government has no business censoring conversations between clients and counselors."
I would add that neither does the government, according to the Constitution, have any right to tell abused children and their parents what they can and cannot believe---and seek counseling from those who share their biblical beliefs.
Frankly, I don't see the Supreme Court, when this matter arrives on their doorstep, buying this leftist progressive attempt at religious censorship either.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.