A federal court in New Jersey ruled on Friday the recently signed law barring “ex-gay” sexual orientation conversion therapy for minors in the state is constitutional.

U.S. District Judge Freda Wilson, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, upheld the law signed by Gov. Chris Christie in August on the basis that the law restricts neither speech nor religious freedom.

In the 66-page decision, Wilson writes the arguments presented by plaintiffs are “counter to the longstanding principle that a state generally may enact laws rationally regulating professionals, including those providing medicine and mental health services.”

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A English lawmaker has introduced a bill to ban ex-gay therapy throughout the UK.

Geraint Davies, Labour MP for Swansea West, has proposed a private members bill called the Counsellors and Psychotherapists (Regulation) Bill. The legislation, which has cross-party backing, will call for closer regulation of psychotherapy, formally state that ex-gay therapy is not an appropriate treatment for distress surrounding sexual orientation, and call for therapists who try to push ex-gay therapy to be banned from practicing.

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A rally against gay conversion therapy in Illinois (Photo: Andrew Ciscel/Flickr)

BY ADAM L. BRINKLOW
dot429

Should university LGBT centers refer students to ex-gay groups and conversion therapists if they ask for it, or do counselors have a responsibility to caution students against trying to change their sexual orientation? Colleges in Virginia seem to have opted for the latter, leading conversion advocates to call foul and say that schools have a burden to present “both sides” of the issue.

Public universities in other states told 429Magazine that they do not recommend that students, even those conflicted about their orientation, undergo any program claiming to change or cure homosexuality. “We never provide reparative therapy, because being gay is not a mental disease,” says Cassandra Nichols, director of counseling at Washington State University “The APA has guidelines about this and we follow them. It would be unethical not to.” Gay reparative therapy is illegal in California and New Jersey. Virtually all LGBT groups reject the practice.  Groups like NARTH still insist that the treatment is safe and that people should have the right to choose to undergo it if they wish.

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Monday signed a ban on so-called ex-gay therapy for minors, issuing some interesting comments alongside his eleventh hour approval of the bill.

Said Christie in a statement released to the press:

At the outset of this debate, I expressed my concerns about government limiting parental choice on the care and treatment of their own children. I still have those concerns. Government should tread carefully into this area and I do so here reluctantly,” Christie said.

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In 2011, Season 1 of OWN’s “Our America with Lisa Ling” ran a controversial episode called “Can You Pray The Gay Away?” that featured the ex-gay movement as largely spearheaded by an organization called Exodus International. Host Lisa Ling aimed to show all sides of the issue, but GLAAD, among others, felt there was too much emphasis on Exodus, giving the harmful organization a platform that they then used to tout their authenticity. That, Lisa Ling said, was not her intention. As someone who considers herself a huge advocate for LGBT rights, she was hoping to tell a story, and that story has only continued to unfold over the last couple of years after the episode aired.

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After years of promoting gay conversion therapy, Exodus International is apologizing for causing “pain and hurt” to the LGBT community.

After 37 years of operation, President Alan Chambers is shutting down “the oldest and largest Christian ministry dealing with faith and homosexuality.”

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Photo: Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen)

BY CHRIS HILLMANN
dot429

This week supporters received two emails from Senator Barbara Buono’s gubernatorial campaign in support of the bill to ban conversion therapy in New Jersey. Within hours of the second email landing in their inbox, a report by the Star Ledger said that Christie opposes conversion therapy. The statement did not indicate whether or not the Governor would sign the bill.

It was a rare turn around for a Governor who usually stands his ground in the face of opposition. Christie voiced his opposition to marriage equality even before he reached the state house. In 2009 he said that he would veto a bill if it came to his desk, which he did in January 2012.  With an election coming in November, Christie is likely trying to soften his image with New Jersey’s LGBT community.

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(Photo: Andrew Ciskel/Flickr)

BY ZACK FORD
ThinkProgress

Costa Rica’s Psychologists Association has issued a bold statement today condemning attempts to “cure” homosexuality through ex-gay therapy. The harmful treatment has been on the rise in Latin America, but according to Psychologists Association spokesperson Marisol Fournier, there is no scientific basis for ex-gay therapy.

“As psychologists, we must ensure conditions for these people to live a life with emotional integrity, and this means recognizing them as individuals with their own sexual orientation and fully unmark this idea of homosexuality as a disease,” says Fournier.

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Photo: Truth Wins Out

BY ZACK FORD
ThinkProgress.org

People Can Change is an ex-gay program that targets men with “unwanted same-sex attractions” and takes them on bizarre weekend retreats for a “Journey Into Manhood.” Its founder, Rich Wyler, was profiled by NPR last year for being ex-gay, but NPR failed to mention the fact that he profits off of this junk therapy to the tune of $200,000 a year, $50,000 of which goes directly into his pocket. To promote their next weekend retreat, the group has released a survey it did of “people who have experienced or are seeking sexual-orientation change, as well as therapists and leaders of ministries that support such change efforts,” and the results are laughable.

The sample of this study is people who profit off of bogus junk science and their brainwashed victims. These numbers have absolutely no validity and are part of Wyler’s scheme to reinforce society’s heterosexism while lining his pockets. Every major medical organization has said that sexual orientation cannot be changed and that the most helpful way to counsel people struggling with their identity is to affirm it and help them to do the same. If attractions are unwanted, only the “unwanted” can actually change.

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The president of the country’s best-known Christian ministry dedicated to helping people repress same-sex attraction through prayer is trying to distance the group from the idea that gay people’s sexual orientation can be permanently changed or “cured.”

That’s a significant shift for Exodus International, the 36-year-old Orlando-based group that boasts 260 member ministries around the U.S. and world. For decades, it has offered to help conflicted Christians rid themselves of unwanted homosexual inclinations through counseling and prayer, infuriating gay rights activists in the process.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

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