November 28, 2012

Excerpt from the JONAH Press Release: “JONAH will vigorously defend itself and gender-affirming processes from the baseless attack contained in the lawsuit. Arthur Goldberg, JONAH’s Co-Director, stated, “We remain steadfast in our commitment to assist those with unwanted same-sex attractions. There are thousands of people who have shed their unwanted same-sex attractions, not only through our programs, but also through other similar programs”. See www.voices-of -change.org. … The intent of this lawsuit is to totally deny individuals the freedom to seek help for their own unwanted same-sex attractions. This bias denies the diversity of thought, belief and feeling within the GLBT and Questioning population. Whatever SPLC’s goals, this narrow-minded lawsuit runs directly contrary to true support for diversity and tolerance. “

November 27, 2012

Excerpt from the article on the SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) website: “The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit today accusing a New Jersey organization of consumer fraud for offering conversion therapy services – a dangerous and discredited practice that claims to convert people from gay to straight. … ‘People who are told repeatedly that they are innately defective are being abused and traumatized,’ said Laura Booker, a licensed clinical social worker who helps people recover from conversion therapy’s devastating effects. …‘They may spend years recovering from the trauma inflicted upon them.’ Conversion therapy also promotes the idea that gay men and lesbians choose their sexual orientation, a position that encourages a climate of anti-gay bigotry.” [Editor’s note: I have not found any professional sexual orientation therapists or ex-gay ministries who tell their clients they are “innately defective” or who “promote the idea that gay men and lesbians choose their sexual orientation.”]

November 26, 2012

Excerpts from Congresswoman Jackie Speiers’ resolution: “Expressing the sense of Congress efforts by mental health practitioners to change an individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity or expression are dangerous and harmful and should be prohibited from being practiced on minors. Whereas being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or gender nonconforming is not a disorder, disease, illness, deficiency, or shortcoming;… Congress encourages each State to take steps to protect minors from efforts that promote or promise to change sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, based on the premise that homosexuality is a mental illness or developmental disorder that can or should be cured.”

November 19, 2012

Beginning of the Introduction to Liberty Counsel’s reply legal arguments: “The Legislature has far exceeded its authority to regulate mental health professionals by enacting SB 1172, an unprecedented, unconstitutional infringement upon the fundamental rights of mental health practitioners, minor patients and their parents who will now be prohibited from providing or receiving Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (“SOCE”) therapy to treat unwanted same-sex attractions. Rather than seeking to protect minors from ‘harm,’ the Legislature has in fact enacted SB 1172 as a means of controlling minors’ thoughts.” (more…)

November 14, 2012

Excerpts from the article on NARTH’s website: “When CDC statistics on HIV diagnoses in 2010 are put into a comparison ratio …, the risk of HIV infection for MSM was approximately 150 times greater than for men who did not have sex with men. In addition, the CDC stated that the rate of primary and secondary syphilis among MSM is “more than 46 times that of other men and more than 71 times that of women.”[ … “As the present analysis underscores, politicians and regulatory boards that ban access to professional efforts to modify unwanted same-sex attractions and behaviors among minors may well be unnecessarily sentencing some of them to serious medical risks. It is tragically ironic that political efforts to prevent alleged harm to minors from sexual-orientation change efforts appear likely instead to increase their exposure to highly established harms such as HIV.”

October 31, 2012

In an article that surprised many moral conservatives and reparative therapists the New York Times told the story of several men with same-sex attractions that benefited significantly from reparative therapy. The stories of unwanted same-sex attractions by Blake Smith, Aaron Bitzer and Jeremy S. were treated with respect from a newspaper that historically has only respected gay political viewpoints. Even reparative therapist Dr. Joseph Nicolosi and a young man just seeking reparative therapy were portrayed in a positive respectful manner. The article can be found by clicking on its title, which follows “‘Ex-Gay’ Men Fight Back Against View That Homosexuality Can’t Be Changed.”

October 20, 2012

World Net Daily excerpt: “A team of legal experts at the United States Justice Foundation is calling on the U.S. government to quit discriminating based on sexual orientation. They have sent a letter to Kevin Fenton of the National Center for HIV/AIDS in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was written on behalf of PFOX, Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays, which pointedly noted that the groups and resources cited by the federal government fall short of a scientific standard.”

…“‘Why is the federal government spreading intolerance against the ex-gay community and Christians who support the religious testimony of former homosexuals?’ the letter asks. ‘The promotion of these negative anti-heterosexual comments spreads hate towards the ex-gay community. Is the federal government singling out a certain class of people to denigrate?’” Link to the World Net Daily article. Link to the letter. Link to PFOX News Alert.

October 9, 2012

(World Net Daily) Excerpt from Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver’s interview on World Net Daily radio: “‘It’s absolute political correctness and immoral behavior and immoral and just bankrupt thinking that has led to this. They are legislating a specific kind of morality, and that morality is only that homosexuality is good and that same-sex attractions are nothing to ultimately be resisted. Even if you don’t want them, even if you don’t want to act on them, so what? Too bad. You’ve got to be counseled to act on them anyway. That’s just absurd. If anything is quackery, it’s the quackery of the California Legislature and the governor that ultimately has the audacity and the hubris to think that they can interfere between a client and the counselor’s relationship.’” Link to the World Net Daily article and radio interview.

October 4, 2012

(Christian Concern) Excerpt: “The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) has written to its members warning them of its opposition to ‘reparative’ therapies. Such therapies are intended for those who experience same sex attraction but want help to change. This move from the BACP will make it difficult for those counsellors who want to offer this kind of therapy and also remain members of the association. … Lesley Pilkington, a Christian counsellor who is trained in reparative therapy, has pointed out that it is the client’s choice to receive such therapy and as such it is a human right. Link to the Christian Concern article.

October 3, 2012

(abcnews.go.com) Excerpt: “A college student who claims he once had same-sex attractions but became heterosexual after conversion therapy has filed a lawsuit against California, which has enacted a law that bans so-called ‘gay cures’ for minors. The lawsuit, also joined as plaintiffs by two therapists who have used the treatments with patients, alleges that the law banning the therapy intrudes on First Amendment protections of free speech, privacy and freedom of religion. The student, Aaron Blitzer, who is studying to be a therapist in that field, said the law would prevent him from pursuing his career, according to court papers filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.” Link to the ABC NEWS article.