LGBT Youth & the Tyranny of Christian 'Conversion Therapy' | The Bilerico Project

This so-called "conversion therapy" really amounted to aversion techniques -- including watching lesbian pornography while being forced to smell ammonia, undergo hypnosis, take psychotropic drugs, and solitary confinement. Staff also imposed so-called "behavior modification" by requiring Lyn to wear dresses, and forced punishments of cutting the lawn with a small pair of scissors and scrubbing floors with a toothbrush.

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She eventually connected with a local journalist, an attorney, Legal Services for Children, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and she fought and won in the courts a legal emancipation from her mother. A lesbian couple adopted her when was 15, and today Lyn Duff serves as a successful activist and journalist for the Pacific News Service and for KPFA radio's Flashpoints.

Many of the more extreme Christian Right groups and religious ministries push what they refer to as "Christian therapy" for the purpose of removing people from the so-called "homosexual lifestyle." It is important that parents, social workers, and other mental health professionals know that these so-called "therapies" go by many names: ex-gay religious ministries, Homosexuals Anonymous (a cynical co-optation of Twelve-Step program method of recovery), PFOX (Parents, Families, and Friends of Ex-Gays and Lesbians (an obvious rip-off of the LGBT allies support network PFLAG -- Parents, Families, and Friends of Gays and Lesbians), and so-called "conversion therapy" (a.k.a. "reparative" or "reorientation" therapy).

All falsely promise conversion to heterosexuality if the person has the requisite motivation to change.

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Jacob Rudolph, Lyn Duff, Samuel Brinton, and many other young people have cut to the very heart of the issue by showing that the problem does not reside within those of us whose sexuality and gender identity and expression differs from the majority, but rather, within society, including a (hopefully) shrinking minority of religious denominations that adhere to an erroneous view of human diversity.



LGBT Youth & the Tyranny of Christian 'Conversion Therapy' | The Bilerico Project

Breaking: DC Passes Bill Banning Conversion Or Ex-Gay 'Therapy' For Children - The New Civil Rights Movement

Washington, D.C. is about to follow in the footsteps of California and New Jersey in protecting children from the dangers of dangerous reparative, "ex-gay," or conversion "therapy." These practices, often embraced by the religious right, employ tactics deemed both ineffective and harmful by nearly every major medical association in the U.S., and many round the world.

The D.C. City Council just voted protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children and teens by banning the practice.

“Today, the DC Council sent a powerful message to LGBT youth and their families that they are accepted, supported, and loved,” Samantha Ames, a staff attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and coordinator of the #BornPerfect campaign said in a statement. “The Council has used its authority to protect our most vulnerable youth from dangerous and discredited pseudoscience that tells them who they are is wrong, and reaffirmed the consensus of every major medical and mental health organization that all children are born perfect, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Breaking: DC Passes Bill Banning Conversion Or Ex-Gay 'Therapy' For Children - The New Civil Rights Movement

The Failings of Reparative Therapy | Great Plains Skeptic

Concise and well presented. Some good counter points to the NARTH position that we all face in our battle with religionist,,,

Homosexuality is neither a mental illness nor is it a psychological issue which requires repair. This is the current crux of the issue between the vast majority of the scientific community and a very minor few who insist that further research is necessary. The current champion of Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) is The NARTH Institute. Groups such as NARTH attempt to associate themselves with solid scientific rigor insomuch as they can use this association to further legitimize their cause, all the while bemoaning the fact that the vast majority of their field of study stands in stark opposition to them not because of the current scientific data, but because of the absence of sufficient evidence. NARTH columnist Matt Barbers calls them “Gay-Activist Science Deniers,” but NARTH (or anyone else) has yet to produce scientific evidence for anyone to deny. Anecdotal evidence, data derived from poor to abysmal methodology, and a total lack of statistically significant results carry no weight in the scientific community. Admittedly, aspects of SOCE treatments are grounded in legitimate science and psychology, but, elements of behavior therapy techniques that have been known to be successful in some therapeutic treatments are inappropriate in seeking to alter sexual orientation. Aversion therapy and sensitization/desensitization processes may have usefulness in other situations, but the literature indicates that it is simply unsuccessful in SOCE.

The Failings of Reparative Therapy | Great Plains Skeptic

Marcus Bachmann Defends Ex-Gay Therapy At Controversial Clinic | Right Wing Watch

I'm sorry but there is NO defense for reparative therapy,,,

Retiring Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s husband Marcus is defending the dangerous, pseudo-scientific, practice of sexual orientation conversion therapy that he conducts at his clinic Counseling Care, previously known as Bachmann & Associates.

Speaking with Jan Markell and Jill Martin Rische on “Understanding the Times” this weekend, Bachmann said that he was angry that his clinic faced criticism after several reports surfaced about ex-gay therapy taking place there.

Bachmann insisted that “we are people of ethics” who were only attacked for trying to “speak truth,” adding that “people will choose, they will ultimately choose what they are going to do with their life.”

Marcus Bachmann Defends Ex-Gay Therapy At Controversial Clinic | Right Wing Watch

Religion Clause: 9th Circuit, With Dissents, Denies En Banc Review In Reparative Therapy Ban Challenge

The continuing saga of California's SB 1172.

In Welch v. Brown, (ED CA, Nov. 5, 2014), a California federal district rejected Free Exercise and Establishment Clause challenges to California's ban on mental health professionals providing "sexual orientation change efforts" (SOCE) for minors. The decision follows on the 9th Circuit's rejection of a free speech challenge to the law. At issue was a claim by a licensed therapist who was also an ordained minister. The court held that the SOCE ban is a neutral law of general applicability, so that only rational basis review need be applied, saying:

Religion Clause: 9th Circuit, With Dissents, Denies En Banc Review In Reparative Therapy Ban Challenge

Supreme Court Upholds California's Ban on Gay Reparative Therapy For Children - The New Civil Rights Movement

The Supreme Court has refused certiorari to two cases challenging the California law prohibiting practitioners from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender expression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children. Since they are the court of last resort, that means going forward, mental health professionals may no longer offer gay reparative therapy, also known as "gay conversion therapy" or "ex-gay therapy", to minors, regardless of their parent's wishes. Professionals who violate the law can be sanctioned by state licensing authorities and professional organizations, and may be sued for damages by patients.

The law, originally Senate Bill 1172 authored by state senator Ted Lieu, was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2012, but was immediately challenged in two separate cases by psychiatrists claiming it infringed the free speech rights of therapists. The 9th Circuit denied their challenges, upholding the law, and today the Supreme Court has made their decision final.

Supreme Court Upholds California's Ban on Gay Reparative Therapy For Children - The New Civil Rights Movement

UPDATE::New York Senate Blocks Ban On Gay Conversion Therapy, Transgender Rights Bill

So disappointed,,,

The New York State Senate adjourned a slightly extended session late Friday night without taking votes on “life-saving” LGBT rights legislation, advocates said.

GOP Senate leaders blocked two bills — a transgender rights bill, the Gender Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), and a bill that would establish a ban on licensed medical providers practicing sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts on minors — from going to the Senate floor for a full vote, where advocates said the measures would have passed.

“We had the votes,” said Nathan Schaefer, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, in a statement. “… The failure of the Senate Leadership to bring these bills to the floor for a vote leaves thousands of transgender New Yorkers vulnerable to discrimination in their homes, on the job and on the streets of their own neighborhoods. And children are left susceptible to harm in the offices of so-called therapists licensed by the State of New York.”

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“It’s bitterly disappointing that the State Senate bowed to partisan politics and failed to protect our kids in New York from so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ which considers homosexuality a sickness that needs to be cured,” said Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat and the chamber’s only out gay member, in a statement. “This bill had the votes to pass the Senate, virtually unanimous support from mental health professionals, and was modeled after legislation passed with bi-partisan support in California and New Jersey, where it was signed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie.”

New York Senate Blocks Ban On Gay Conversion Therapy, Transgender Rights Bill

New York Assembly Bans 'Ex-Gay' Abuse for Minors | The Bilerico Project

Today the New York State Assembly approved a ban on "ex-gay" therapy, a dangerous and discredited form of psychological abuse that falsely claims to change people from gay to straight. "Ex-gay" therapy, also known as conversion therapy, has been denounced by every major mainstream organization of medical and mental health professionals.

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The measure goes next to the Republican-led Senate, which will decide whether or not to take the bill up this week,,,

New York Assembly Bans 'Ex-Gay' Abuse for Minors | The Bilerico Project

Ex Gay conversion therapy program Living Water to close - Gay News Network

Ron Brookman, Australian Director of Living Waters Australia (LWA), one of the longest running ex-gay/conversion therapy programs in Australia, has announced the group will cease operations next month.

Brookman made the announcement to followers via a newsletter last week. The closure of Living Waters Australia will mean only a handful of ex gay therapy organisations remain operational in Australia.

Anthony Venn-Brown, founder of Ambassadors & Bridge Builders International, who has been monitoring Australian ex-gay activities for nearly two decades, welcomed the news, saying participants in these programs were often psychologically damaged by the ‘change is possible’ programs.

Ex Gay conversion therapy program Living Water to close - Gay News Network

MRFF Demands the Immediate Dismissal of 'Ex-Gay' Counselor from Air Force Academy | Chris Rodda

As reported by the Colorado Springs Independent, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) today sent a letter to Acting Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning demanding that Dr. Mike Rosebush be immediately dismissed from his position at the Air Force Academy.

The full article about Dr. Rosebush, the subject of an extensive report by Pam Zubeck, will be out in tomorrow's edition of the Independent, but, due to the story leaking elsewhere earlier today, the Independent has posted a preview of MRFF's demand letter, and I am posting the full letter here.

MRFF Demands the Immediate Dismissal of 'Ex-Gay' Counselor from Air Force Academy | Chris Rodda