LGBTQ news and entertainment
After several posts about so-called “ex-gay” torture therapy here on The Randy Report, I did encounter a few people who asked me, “What if someone wants to be ‘cured’ of the gay? Shouldn’t they be able to do that?”
And the answer? Of course. Except – it doesn’t work.
And the history behind most of the “treatments” is pretty sketchy – forced cuddling, horse stroking, and monkey testicles, anybody?
Smart guy Matt Baume takes us on a disturbing journey through the ages of “curing the gay.”
A New Jersey jury found a “life coach” and a non-profit group called JONAH guilty of consumer fraud in the first court case in the country to address the practice of so-called “ex-gay” or “conversion” therapy.
From NJ.com:
The jury concluded that Arthur Goldberg and Elaine Berk, the founders of Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing in Jersey City and life coach Alan Downing to whom JONAH referred patients, “engaged in unconscionable commercial practices” and misrepresented their services.
The verdict requires JONAH and Downing to refund thousands of dollars paid by former clients Michael Ferguson, Benjamin Unger, Sheldon Bruck, Chaim Levin, and parents Jo Bruck and Bella Levin for the individual and group counseling sessions and the “journey into manhood” weekends in the woods.
But the victory has broader implications. The national civil rights legal advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center filed the case to take a stand against conversion therapy — a frequent target of public criticism since the passage of same-sex marriage laws and other LGBT legal protections.
In 2013, New Jersey joined California by outlawing licensed therapists from providing the therapy to minors. Oregon and Washington D.C. followed.
The “therapy” included such activities as beating a pillow with a tennis racket as if the pillow were the patient’s mother; undressing in front of the practitioners; and touching themselves to express their “manhood.”
The Illinois state Senate on Friday approved a measure, by a vote of 34-19, that will ban so-called “ex-gay” therapy aimed at changing the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBT youth.
The bill passed by a 34-19 vote after receiving House approval this month. It now heads to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has not indicated whether he plans to sign the bill into law.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), points to several mental health associations support banning the practice as studies have shown it can be extremely damaging causing “mental illness, trauma and can increase the risk of suicide.”
The legislation would ban mental health providers from using the controversial treatment on anyone under 18 years old.
Currently California, Oregon, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. have approved similar bans on “conversion” therapy.
The Chicago Sun-Times, in an editorial today, urged state legislators to finish the job and pass current legislation that would ban so-called “ex-gay” or “conversion” therapy.
And in no uncertain terms.
Being gay is not an illness. It requires no cure.
And anybody who practices “conversion therapy,” purporting to be able to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, is a quack, engaged in medical malpractice. Conversion therapy does not work. On this, the scientific and medical consensus is strong. It can only do harm.
We urge the Illinois Senate to support a measure, sponsored by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, and Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, that would bar mental health workers from engaging in treatments designed to change the sexual orientation of minors.
The bill passed in the House on Tuesday by a vote of 68 to 43. Biss tells us he is “optimistic” it will pass in the Senate as well, next week, but he’s still rounding up the votes. Conversion therapy is one of those issues on which there are not really two opposing credible views, and to claim otherwise is to create a false equivalency.
On the one side are defenders of the practice, their views usually grounded in religious belief, who can cite no credible evidence.
On the other side is the full weight of America’s mainstream medical and mental health communities, who come armed with facts.
The cure does not work, and nobody needs curing.
Let’s hear it for Illinois!
By a vote of 68 to 43, state legislators approved legislation that would ban so-called “ex-gay” therapy for minors.
Sixty-one Democrats and seven Republicans voted to protect young LGBTs from the harmful effects of what many have termed “conversion torture” which attempts to “fix” something that isn’t broken.
“Ending conversion therapy is our top priority in the legislature right now. Trying to change the unchangeable, our innate sexual orientation and gender identity, should not be attempted because it risks the health of LGBT youth,” said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois.
The bill now heads to the Illinois state Senate.
Illinois would join Oregon, California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia in protecting LGBT minors from “conversion therapy.”
In light of the fact that so-called “ex-gay” conversion therapy is not only harmful to people but also completely ineffective at “curing” homosexuality, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) has introduced federal legislation that would effectively ban the practice in the US.
Lieu said during a news conference that he introduced the measure, the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, because medical and psychological experts say conversion therapy is only not ineffective, but also potentially harms individuals who endure it.
“We know that being gay or lesbian is not a medical condition that needs a cure,” Lieu said. “Love doesn’t need a cure. That’s what the bill is about.”
Under the legislation, conversion therapy would be classified as fraud under the Federal Trade Commission Act. If the legislation were signed into law, the Federal Trade Commission could enforce the bill at its discretion and private citizens could bring lawsuits against those who practice “ex-gay” therapy.
“What the bill will do is outlaw conversion therapy by saying that you cannot advertise that you’re doing conversion therapy, you cannot say that it works, you cannot promote it and you cannot profit off of it,” Lieu said.
California, New Jersey and D.C. have already passed laws barring “ex-gay” conversion therapy for minors, with Oregon’s legislation now headed to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
Lieu’s bill differs from state laws, however, in a few ways.
One, the federal bill would prohibit “ex-gay” therapy for everyone – not just minors.
Second, practitioners would be barred from charging for providing the “therapy.” The vast majority of folks who do this kind of “therapy” are for profit; thus, most would stop if they couldn’t make money from the practice of the harmful “therapy.” Plus, supporters of the bill say this doesn’t infringe on First Amendment liberties.
Finally, the federal bill bans “conversion” therapy for not only sexual orientation, but gender identity as well.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has signed on as an original sponsor of the bill.
“Conversion therapy is abusive, destructive, discredited, and has no place in any medical practice,” Pelosi said in a statement. “This legislation will stop conversion therapy peddlers from committing these fraudulent and hateful acts against LGBT children and adults. Being LGBT is not an error to be corrected.”
Via press release from the National Center for Lesbian Rights:
Today, the Oregon State Senate passed HB 2307, a bill that will protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the State House on March 17 and is now heading to the desk of Governor Kate Brown who is expected to sign it into law. When signed into law, Oregon will become the fourth jurisdiction—behind California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia—to pass legislation protecting LGBT youth from the serious harms caused by these practices, which have been linked to substance abuse, serious depression, and even suicide.
HRC and NCLR have partnered with state equality groups across the nation to pass state legislation to end this dangerous practice, including laws passed in California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. In August of 2013, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s ban which was signed into law by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown in 2012. On Monday May 4, 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to upheld New Jersey’s ban which was signed into law by Republican Governor Chris Christie in August of 2013. NCLR attorneys have assisted in the defense of every state bill to date.
More at NCLR.org.
Mat Staver and his Liberty Counsel have failed for a second time in attempting to repeal the ban on so-called “conversion” therapy for minors in New Jersey.
By a 3-0 vote, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the ban did not infringe the First Amendment rights of minors and their parents to receive information and exercise religion, or the rights of parents to decide how to raise their children.
The challenge came from a 15-year-old boy known as John Doe, who claimed to suffer from anxiety, panic attacks, self-hatred and suicidal thoughts as he struggled with his sexual identity, and his parents, who said they had sincere religious beliefs that homosexuality was sinful and harmful.
The family plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, said their lawyer, Mathew Staver.
“It is a tragedy when people who are not in the counseling room try to dictate what the client wants to receive and what the counselor is allowed to offer,” Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, said in a phone interview.
Signed by Republican Governor Chris Christie in August 2013, New Jersey’s law bans licensed counselors from trying to convert homosexual minors into heterosexuals.
The law was upheld last Sept. 11 by the same 3rd Circuit panel after counselors claimed it violated their free speech rights.
On April 8, President Barack Obama called for an end to gay conversion therapy for children, citing “overwhelming scientific evidence” that it was “neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm.”
The American Psychiatric Association in 1973 declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder. Some conservative and religious groups have said sexual orientation can be changed.
This follows three failed attempts by Liberty Counsel to overturn a similar ban in California.
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| Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President |
In the aftermath of transgender teen Leelah Alcorn’s suicide, a petition was created calling for the White House to speak out against so-called “ex-gay” therapy for minors. The petition garnered over 120,000 signatures.
On Wednesday, President Obama issued a statement in support of banning “conversion” therapies for minors.
Now, the While House has released a video featuring staffers talking on the very important subject.
Watch below:
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| Jay Davis, Advisor for Digital Strategy and Engagement, Environmental Protection Agency |
In a response to a petition begun in the aftermath of 17 year-old transgender Leelah Alcorn’s suicide, the White House has announced tonight that President Obama supports efforts to ban the use of so-called “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy” for minors. Leelah left behind a suicide note describing how her parents forced her into what has become known as “conversion” torture.
This sad incident brought national attention to the practice of “conversion” or “reparative” therapy, which can do intense damage to LGBT folks.
In a statement that was to be posted on Wednesday evening alongside a WhiteHouse.gov petition begun in honor of Ms. Alcorn, Mr. Obama condemned the psychiatric practice, sometimes called “conversion” or “reparative” therapy, which is supported by some socially conservative organizations and religious doctors. The petition has received more than 120,000 signatures in three months.
“We share your concern about its potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer youth,” the statement, written by Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, says, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times. “As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.”
In an interview on Wednesday, Ms. Jarrett said Mr. Obama was moved by the story of Ms. Alcorn’s suicide. But she said the problem went far beyond her.
“It was tragic, but I will tell you, unfortunately she has a lot of company,” Ms. Jarrett said. “It’s not the story of one young person. It is the story of countless young people who have been subjected to this.”
Bolding is mine.
The article goes on to say that while President Obama isn’t prepared to call for a federal law against “ex-gay” therapy (although he’s open to the idea), he will support banning the practice at state levels as has been done in California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.