Homosexual ‘cure therapy’ banned in California

California is the first American state to outlaw therapy which attempts to ‘make’ gay teenagers straight.

A bill has been passed which prohibits young people under eighteen from partaking in the therapy described as ‘sexual orientation change’. Governor Jerry Brown announced yesterday that Senate Bill 1172 has been signed to ban such treatment.

“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, board president of Equality California in a statement.

The law will become legal from January 2013 and will bring to an end state licensed therapists and physiatrists from offering gay-cleansing services. Support to outlaw the practice came not only from a number of LGBT support groups but also from mental health associations who believe that unethical health providers have caused more psychological and emotional harm to patients who have partaken in the attempts to change their sexual orientation.

“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.” Said Kate Kendell, of a Lesbian Rights movement to NBC News.

Opposing the new legal measures, unsurprisingly, is the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. The organisation plan to take their own legal action in order to gain a temporary injunction to stop the bill coming into effect.