FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Law Is A Historic Step In Stopping Child Abuse Disguised As Therapy, Says TWO
Burlington, Vt. — Truth Wins Out praised California Gov. Jerry Brown for signing a bill into law today that prohibits minors from being subjected to an abusive form of treatment known as ‘reparative therapy.’ The law goes into effect January 1, 2013.
“This bill bans non-scientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide. These practices have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery,” Brown said in a statement to The San Francisco Chronicle.
“This is a historic day that protects LGBT youth from child abuse disguised as genuine therapy,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We thank Gov. Brown for signing legislation that can serve as a model for similar bills across the nation.”
Senate Bill 1172 was authored by Senator Ted Lieu and co-sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California, Gaylesta, Courage Campaign, Lambda Legal, and Mental Health America of Northern California, and supported by dozens of organizations including Truth Wins Out.
“Governor Brown today reaffirmed what medical and mental health organizations have made clear: Efforts to change minors’ sexual orientation are not therapy, they are the relics of prejudice and abuse that have inflicted untold harm on young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians,” said Clarissa Filgioun, Equality California board president. “We thank Senator Ted Lieu and Governor Brown for their efforts in making California a leader in banning this deceptive and harmful practice.”
Added NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell: “Governor Brown has sent a powerful message of affirmation and support to LGBT youth and their families. This law will ensure that state-licensed therapists can no longer abuse their power to harm LGBT youth and propagate the dangerous and deadly lie that sexual orientation is an illness or disorder that can be ‘cured.’ ”
Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
AWESOME!! NARTH must be shitting there pants!
now for the rest of the country!
Great news! California officially joins with mental health professionals by outlawing this snake oil type of “therapy.”
So he’s finally signed it. Good. Extremely gratifying.
Thanks to Governor Brown! Let’s put this child abuse to an end everywhere!
Kudos to CA. It’s about time some effort was made to protect kids from the real dangers of society,namely all those religiously based and promoted ideas that are sheer junk and corruption. God’s will has to be forced through junk science. Right!
I’ve been hearing that certain “ex-gay” groups have been planning to sue to overturn this law. I hope they go through with it and get smacked down.
Excellent! Next will be to fail Exodus-like smut that leads people to degenerative reparative therapy though Exodus-like confusionists i.e. Randy Thomas and Alan Chambers. They and their religious switchcraft should no longer be a protected class.
The “ex-gays” and their allies will dig their own graves if they try to overturn the bill via the courts.
iDavid/others: EXODUS pulled their support of this form of therapy, saying it does not help, AND that homosexuality is not change-able, causing at least 12 member organizations to pull out. Sounds like Chambers found some backbone. Hopefully, ALL reparative therapy will be banned by professional organizations. Unfortunately, anyone can STILL hang out a shingle and call themselves a “counselor”!!!
The glaring hole in this new law is that religion-based “therapy” is still permitted.
How sick and twisted is a society that looks in one direction, sees a practice that produces obvious evidence of harm, then bans it, and then looks in the other direction, sees the same practice producing the same harm, but allows and protects it because it is conducted based on sincerely held superstitious beliefs which means that special rights and immunities are in effect?
But still, one step is better than no step.
[...] been an avalanche of media coverage in the five days since California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1172 into law, making California the first state in history to make it illegal for licensed counselors [...]
[...] therapist, filed suit Monday in federal court seeking to block California’s groundbreaking new law that bans “ex-gay” therapy for [...]
[...] 2691, comes less than two weeks after California Governor Jerry Brown signed the nation’s first-ever law prohibiting minors from being subjected to this form of anti-gay abuse. The 14-term Democrat from [...]