Virginia’s war on free speech just took a hit. The Henrico County Circuit Court has approved a consent decree that stops the state from enforcing its 2020 ban on talk therapy for minors grappling with same-sex attraction or gender confusion, as Just the News reports. The progressive push to silence counselors like John and Janet Raymond, a Christian couple, crumbled under the state’s constitutional protections.
The decree, a win for the Raymonds and their Founding Freedoms Law Center, halts Virginia’s attempt to criminalize faith-based counseling for minors. It leans on the Virginia Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which set a high bar for stomping on religious convictions. This settlement exposes the left’s overreach in policing private conversations.
Back in 2020, 11 GOP delegates and one senator joined Democrats to pass the ban, signed by then-Gov. Ralph Northam. The law scared the Raymonds into nearly abandoning minor clients, fearing legal repercussions for offering biblical insights. “Every counselor in Virginia will now be able to speak freely,” boasted Founding Freedoms, as if the state ever had the right to gag them.
That claim of free speech rings true, but it’s a bitter pill for progressives who thought they’d won. The Virginia Supreme Court’s rulings in favor of teachers like Peter Vlaming fired for not using a student’s preferred pronouns, set the stage. Vlaming’s $575,000 settlement from the West Point School Board proves the state’s constitution isn’t messing around.
Vlaming’s case wasn’t alone in shaking things up. Loudoun County teacher Tanner Cross, also reinstated by the Virginia Supreme Court, fought against compelled pronoun use and won. These victories emboldened the Raymonds to challenge a law that treated their counseling as a crime.
Another group of Virginia teachers, inspired by Vlaming, settled their lawsuit in December 2024 over forced pronoun compliance. The courts are sending a clear message: Virginia’s religious freedom protections trump woke mandates. It’s a pattern the left can’t ignore, no matter how hard they try.
Nationally, the U.S. Supreme Court is turning up the heat on gender ideology. In recent weeks, it upheld Tennessee’s ban on medicalized gender transitions for minors and restored parental rights to opt out of LGBTQ lessons. It also took up petitions from Idaho and West Virginia to review laws keeping males out of girls’ sports.
These rulings echo the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2020 decision to strike down conversion therapy bans in Florida’s Palm Beach County and Boca Raton. “If speaking to clients is not speech, the world is truly upside down,” said Judge Britt Grant, nailing the absurdity of these laws. Her words should haunt every bureaucrat trying to regulate words.
Michigan’s 2024 ban on minor conversion therapy is now wobbling under 6th Circuit scrutiny, with Catholic Charities leading the charge. Supported by 11 Republican attorneys general and groups like CAIR Michigan, the case shows even unlikely allies see the danger in silencing speech. The Institute for Justice added, “In today’s information-based economy, ever-greater numbers of people earn their living purely by speaking.”
Founding Freedoms, born on July 1, 2020, to counter Virginia’s anti-faith policies, framed the Raymonds’ victory as a lifeline for parents. “The growing number of parents who are seeking guidance for their struggling children… will finally be able to find knowledgeable counselors,” they said. Yet the left’s obsession with “gender dysphoria as a contagion” ignores families begging for help.
The Raymonds, who sought $50,000 in damages and $1,000 in nominal damages, got neither, and both sides paid their legal fees. Still, the decree ensures Virginia can’t penalize them or other counselors for defying the ban. It’s a practical win, even if the state dodged a financial slap.
The consent decree’s timing, announced earlier this month to mark the ban’s fifth anniversary, was no accident. Founding Freedoms wanted to rub salt in the wound of a law that never should’ve passed. The irony? GOP votes helped create this mess in 2020.
Virginia’s ban was sold as protecting minors, but it robbed them of choice and parents of trusted advisors. The Raymonds’ near-total withdrawal from counseling minors shows the law’s chilling effect. Now, with the ban unenforceable, families can seek counselors who align with their values, not the state’s.
The broader fight against compelled speech is gaining ground, from Virginia classrooms to federal courts. CAIR Michigan’s brief in the Michigan case argued that even pandemic-era restrictions couldn’t justify curbing free expression, let alone “routine regulatory interests.” The left’s playbook of administrative overreach is losing its grip.
Virginia’s retreat from its counseling ban is a warning to woke lawmakers: religious freedom and free speech aren’t negotiable. The Raymonds’ victory, backed by a string of court rulings, proves the tide is turning against policies that prioritize ideology over liberty. Expect more battles, but for now, common sense has a foothold.
