August 29, 2013

The following excerpt is from Cheryl Wetzstein’s article “Appeals court backs Calif. gay conversion ban” on WashingtonTimes.com: “California’s first-in-the-nation law banning so-called ‘gay conversion’ therapies for minors with same-sex attractions was upheld Thursday as a three-judge federal appellate panel rejected a challenge to the law.”

“The law ‘does not violate the free speech rights of practitioners or minor patients, is neither vague nor overbroad, and does not violate parents’ fundamental rights,’ wrote Justice Susan P. Graber of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The unanimous ruling lifted a preliminary injunction against the law and sent the cases — Pickup v. Brown and Welch v. Brown — back to lower courts to be dismissed.” …

August 26, 2013

Following are excerpts from Christopher Doyle’s article “How Exodus International Should Apologize to the Ex-Gay Community” on the Voice of the Voiceless website: “Over the last couple of months, the Christian community has taken two giant steps back with the dissolution of Exodus International, previously the largest Christian ex-gay ministry in the world. Sadly, this has caused a great deal of damage.”

… “In preparation for their closure in late July, the leadership of Exodus embarked on a global apology tour. … While I believe the apologies are sincere are well-meaning, some of these statements, specifically their condemnation of the work of ex-gay leaders, both within and outside the Exodus International umbrella, are inappropriate and ill-advised. In short, while attempting to right some wrongs for members of the gay community they hurt, the Exodus leadership is “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” when it comes to ex-gays.” (more…)