March 23, 2014

The following excerpts are from the letter written by John H. Raney, M.D., ABPN and Anthony Duk, M.D. ABPN to the Illinois committee overseeing the bill to ban change therapy: “May we respectfully suggest that the efforts of some to ban SOCE therapy in Illinois are: An unfounded overreach without support in scientific research. (Even the APA’s task force made up of gay activists and gay affirming professionals – without one professional who actually does SOCE(!), said there wasn’t enough research to say whether it was harmful or beneficial)” …

“Those who are wrongly forced to live with unwanted same sex attraction will unfortunately face the same documented medical and psychological problems faced by those in the gay lifestyle which include: -Increased rates of depression, drug abuse, suicidal ideation and behavior – Tremendously increased rates of HIV infection and AIDS – Increased rates of Hepatitis B and C – Increased rates of anal and colon cancer” …

March 21, 2014

The following excerpts are from the article “California accused of discriminating against Christians” on the World Net Daily website: “When California lawmakers passed a law preventing licensed therapists from discussing with their clients how to eliminate unwanted same-sex attractions, their intent was to discriminate against the Judeo-Christian belief that homosexuality is sinful, charges a new brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“The document was submitted by Freedom X, a nonprofit public interest law firm, as well as Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays, a leading advocacy organization for the ex-‘gay’ community. The brief is in support of a request that the Supreme Court review and overturn a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that endorsed the censorship of specific words and ideas in therapy sessions in the state.” (more…)

March 20, 2014

The following excerpt is from the article “Maryland and Minnesota … Reject Change Therapy Bills” on the VoV website: “While [Maryland Delegate Jon] Cardin claimed that the reason the bill was withdrawn was due to the existing regulatory oversight protections that are already in place to protect youth from “harmful conversion therapy,” the real reason was because of the bill’s lack of support within his own party. In reality, the unconstitutional notion of taking away the rights of individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions did not sit well with Maryland legislators, and with Cardin engaged in the race for Attorney General, he was not about to take a chance that this bill would fail. The timing of the press conference (Friday) was also indicative that Cardin wanted very little attention on the withdraw of this bill.”

March 21, 2014

The following excerpts are from the article “California accused of discriminating against Christians” on the World Net Daily website: “When California lawmakers passed a law preventing licensed therapists from discussing with their clients how to eliminate unwanted same-sex attractions, their intent was to discriminate against the Judeo-Christian belief that homosexuality is sinful, charges a new brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.” …

“‘By omitting the APA Report’s qualified definition of ‘acceptance and support’ to include the patient’s ‘values, beliefs and needs,’ SB 1172 shows a legislative intent to prevent the patient’s values and beliefs from guiding the psycho-therapeutic treatment.’” (more…)

March 19, 2014

The following excerpts are from the article “Nobody is ‘born that way’ gay historians say” written by David Benkof and published on The Daily Caller website: … “Are gays indeed born that way? The question has immense political, social, and cultural repercussions. For example, some of the debate over applying the Constitution’s equal protection clause to gays and lesbians focuses on whether gayness is an inborn characteristic. And the major argument gays and lesbians have made for religious affirmation has been, ‘God made me this way.’”

“Thus, if it’s proven sexual orientations are not innate, much of the scaffolding upon which today’s LGBT movement has been built would begin to crumble. (more…)

March 18, 2014

The following PFOX press release “US Supreme Court asked to strike Calif. ban on sexual orientation change efforts” is reprinted in its entirety: LOS ANGELES – Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) and Freedom X have filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision upholding California law SB 1172 that bans licensed therapists from providing sexual orientation change counseling to children with unwanted same-sex attractions.

In Pickup v. Brown, the 9th Circuit ruled that psychologist-patient conversations about how a patient can change his or her sexual orientation is “conduct” and not protected private speech, thereby deeming certain words and conversations in a mental health counseling context to be unlawful.

“The First Amendment protects free speech for all citizens, including licensed therapists and counselors (more…)

March 14, 2014

The following excerpts are from the article “Gay ‘conversion therapy’ bill withdrawn as advocates pursue regulatory oversight” on the Baltimore Sun website: “Gay rights advocates and the state legislator who introduced legislation this session to ban so-called “gay conversion therapy” in Maryland have withdrawn the bill, saying they will instead pursue regulatory oversight of the controversial practice.” …

“In a joint statement Friday, Cardin and Equality Maryland officials said that in research for the bill, and in talking to “several organizations with expertise in regulatory protections for patients,” they concluded that patients who feel they have been harmed by “conversion” or “reparative” therapy already have avenues to complain to state health occupation boards.” …

March 7, 2014

The following excerpts are from the article “Judge not satisfied Boris Johnson told full story about ban on ex-gay bus advert” on the Christian Concern website: “A High Court Judge has ordered the Mayor of London to provide full, unedited copies of internal documents ‘in order to get to the bottom’ of his decision to ban a bus advertisement by a Christian charity that helps people place their Christian identity over their same sex attraction.”

“Mrs Justice Lang who presided at the original appeal against the ban, today said, ‘I am still not satisfied that the full story is being told.’ Her comments follow the revelation of emails between the Mayor’s office and Transport for London (TfL) which were not seen by the Judge at the first hearing. The emails were only revealed following the case after Core Issues Trust (CIT), issued a Freedom of Information request.” (more…)

March 3, 2014

Following are excerpts of Core Issues Trust response to the “Conversion Therapy Consensus Statement” produced by the UK Council for Psychotherapy: “1. … the document’s main argument is that there is “no good evidence this [type of therapy] works and we believe it has the potential to cause harm.” It implies that this approach is based on religious interpretation rather than science. We note the reference to “no good evidence”. In fact the best study that we have did find good evidence of change in people seeking to reduce or eliminate same-sex attractions (see below). We note too the statement that “we believe it has the potential to cause harm”. This statement is premised on the view that sexual orientation is fixed and unchangeable. They may indeed believe this, but where is the science? Their own flawed claim rebounds against them: there is no good evidence that talking therapies cause harm.” (more…)

February 28, 2014

The following excerpts are from the statement “Bad Bills Die” written by Joseph Backholm for the Family Policy Institute: “The Senate Health Care committee failed to vote on two separate bills with significant implications for conscience rights, religious freedom, and parental rights in their last committee meeting before today’s deadline. This signals the likely death for an Abortion Insurance Mandate (HB 2148) as well as a bill to ban Sexual Orientation Change Therapy (HB 2451).” … (more…)