October 1, 2012

(World Net Daily) The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) will seek an injunction to prevent the implementation of SB 1172 – the California law that will prohibit therapists from providing sexual orientation change efforts to minors. An October 1st World Net Daily article quoted Mathew McReynolds of PJI, “The bill claims that sexually confused youth who experience ‘family rejection … face especially serious health risks’ and the state has a ‘compelling interest’ to protect their health. The logical implication from these two assertions is that the state is giving itself the power to take kids away from parents who do not affirm the kids’ sexual confusion.” The Liberty Counsel will also be filing a lawsuit against the bill on behalf of the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). Link to the World Net Daily article. Link to the statement by the Pacific Justice Institute.

October 1, 2012

(NARTH.com) Excerpt: “NARTH is saddened but not surprised by this unprecedented legislative intrusion and will lend its full support to the legal efforts to overturn it. California citizens and especially parents should know the indifference that supporters of this bill have toward their freedom of choice, as reflected in Senator Lieu’s recent acknowledgement that, ‘The attack on parental rights is exactly the whole point of the bill…’ The Senator went on to equate the harms to minors of smoking and alcohol abuse, which have been documented over decades of research, with the reported harms of sexual orientation change efforts, the prevalence of which the American Psychological Association admits we have no way of knowing.” (more…)

October 1, 2012

(abcnews.go.com) Excerpt: “Therapy aimed at changing the sexual orientation of minors who say they are gay has been outlawed in California, the first state to adopt such legislation. California Gov. Jerry Brown announced he had signed the bill on Sunday. The bill’s sponsor, Calif. State Sen. Ted Lieu, said the so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ ‘sexual orientation therapy,’ ‘reparative therapy,’ or ‘sexual orientation change efforts’ — amounts to ‘psychological child abuse.’ Link to the ABC NEWS article.

September 26, 2012

(ExodusInternational.org) Excerpt from the article “Masterpieces:” “He [Mike Geoke’s counselor] looked at me and said something to this effect: ‘you have no idea who you are. You have let others dictate your identity and you have let your own feelings dictate your identity. Until you both discover and rest in the truth of who JESUS says you are, you will never be satisfied and you will always be striving to be something more.’ I left in a huff, ready to give up on counseling. But I went back. Over time, my counselor proved to be wise. I was never going to move beyond my surface issues until I got below the surface and discovered that I was not living in the reality of who I truly was as a Christ follower. My issue wasn’t my biggest problem. I needed to discover my true identity in Christ.” (more…)

September 1, 2012

(Christian Post) “Survey results from a study conducted by People Can Change, a nonprofit organization that seeks to help people with unwanted same-sex attractions (SSA), show that over half of those who sought counseling for SSA felt their attractions diminish as a result.”

“According to the survey, which was released Friday, 55 percent of those who sought out this kind of counseling experienced SSA with less intensity and frequency than before they received help. Additionally, 71 percent of those surveyed said they were either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the counseling they received.”

“…In all, 474 people from 19 countries responded to the survey.” Link to the Christian Post article.

August 31, 2012

(njtoday.net) “TRENTON — Assemblyman Tim Eustace on Thursday announced plans to introduce legislation that would ban the controversial practice known as ‘conversion therapy’ aimed at changing the sexual orientation of minors, a measure similar to one that recently passed the California State Assembly overwhelmingly.” Link to the njtoday.net article.

August 30, 2012

(Washington Times) “A California bill to ban therapies to ‘change’ sexual orientation in children and teens passed its final legislative hurdle late Thursday and now goes to California Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature.”

… “Mr. Brown has not taken a position on SB 1172, and he has until Sept. 30 to sign, veto or allow its protections to take effect without his signature on Jan. 1, 2013. If enacted, the measure would be the first of its kind in the nation.”

… “Opponents say the Lieu bill — which only permits ‘gay-affirming’ therapies for minors — tramples on parents’ rights to care for their children and mental health professionals’ rights to offer the most optimal therapies to a patient, and it encourages ‘ex-gay bashing.’” Link to the Washington Times article.

August 15, 2012

In response to California State Senator Ted Lieu’s charge of widespread harm to minors from sexual orientation change efforts, NARTH president Christopher Rosik, Ph.D searched two science literature databases for evidence. One database PsycARTICLES searched journals related to psychology and the other MEDLINE searched 1470 medical journals. While Rosik found 15,806 articles under six search headings of children/adolescents/minors and cigarettes/alcohol, he only found four articles under eight headings of harm related to sexual orientation change efforts. Three of the four were not research related. The one article about harm was from two gay professionals whose research sought individuals who felt harmed by sexual orientation change efforts. That study did not distinguish between mental health professionals and unlicensed religious counselors. Rosik concluded that the Lieu’s charge of widespread harm represents rhetoric and not research. The full text can be found at “Complete Lack of a Scientific Basis.”

August 8, 2012

Edited text: “Dear Senator Ted Lieu: You claim that ‘sexual orientation conversion therapy is absolutely illegitimate’ and that’s why you ‘want to stop parents from sending their kids to it.’ … please read the 2010 CDC AIDS report: 77% of diagnosed HIV infections were attributed to MSM (men who have sex with men). Of those aged 13 to 24 youth, 89% was attributed to MSM. In fact, MSM aged 13 to 24 youth had the greatest increase in diagnosis (44%). Talk about harm to children! Why do you want to prevent youth from receiving counseling for unwanted same-sex attractions when those attractions can kill them?”

Full text of the PFOX letter: (more…)

July 15, 2012

Tom Usher has written an article pointing out how Dr. Nicoloi’s letter to Alan Chambers has been taken out of context. Usher includes Nicolosi’s letter in the article, which he claims is the original source of its posting. Following are some excerpts from Usher’s article on TheRealLiberalChurch website:

“Much is being made of Dr. Nicolosi writing to Alan Chambers that he, Dr. Nicolosi, has said that he can’t ‘cure’ anyone of same-sex attraction. That is not to say that Dr. Nicolosi is saying that he has never treated anyone the results of which have been to-date arriving and remaining where the client is no longer sexually aroused by those of the same sex.” (more…)