June 14, 2013

The following article “VOV Condemns Kangaroo-Court Committee That Advanced Therapy Ban in New Jersey” on the Voice of the Voiceless website is reprinted in its entirety: Trenton, NJ, June 13, 2013 – New Jersey Citizens Against the Jerry Sandusky Victimization Act, A 3371 charged in their testimony today before the Assembly Women and Children’s committee that gay activists and their allies continue to fabricate stories and misrepresent the facts and scientific research related to the development and treatment of same-sex attraction.

The bill would ban licensed psychotherapists in New Jersey from providing widely accepted and proven sexual orientation change effort (SOCE) therapies to children and adolescents with unwanted same-sex attraction, including victims of abuse by sexual predators like Jerry Sandusky. The ban would apply even if these victims and their parents seek it.

“In the March 18 Senate committee hearing on this bill, we saw a stunning display of misrepresentation of basic science and clinical experience by witnesses supporting the ban, as well as highly suspect stories of alleged abusive practices of SOCE that gay activists and their allies propagated,” said Greg Quinlan of the New Jersey Family Policy Center. As a result of this deceptive and misleading display on March 18, members of the coalition opposed to the bill had hoped that the committee chairwoman, Pamela Lampitt, would put witnesses on both sides appearing before the committee, under oath.

”We are very disappointed she did not initiate this,” Quinlan said. “The members of the committee, the members of the full Assembly, and especially the people of New Jersey deserve the truth from witnesses. We are convinced that, just as on the Senate side, many of the witnesses were not being truthful in their statements today.” What the public witnessed instead was Committee Chairwoman Lampitt absurdly pronouncing before the hearing even began, that persons with same-sex attraction are “born gay” and that the New Jersey Legislature has an obligation to protect gay youth from abuse.

“Lampitt’s pre-hearing lecture, before any evidence was submitted, was insulting to the entire legislative process. How can other committee members listen to testimony objectively when the chairwoman is bullying the entire room with her unscientific and unsubstantiated claims around the etiology of homosexuality,” commented Christopher Doyle, Co-Founder of Voice of the Voiceless. “The American Psychological Association said in 2008 that people are not born gay, yet, somehow, with the plethora of psychiatric and medical ‘experts’ who testified in favor of the ban today, this inconvenient fact was left out.”

To underscore their own commitment to present only verifiable facts and honest experiences, many of the witnesses opposing the bill, including Doyle, a former homosexual and psychotherapist who specializes in the treatment of same-sex attraction, submitted their testimony as sworn and notarized affidavits.

Doyle, one of the witnesses at today’s hearing, personally exposed the March 18 Senate testimony of one of the witnesses, Brielle Goldani, who said she had been sent to an Ohio “conversion therapy torture camp” run by the Assembly of God Church. After investigating these allegations, it was apparent that she completely fabricated her experiences of attending the camp True Directions, which only exists in the 1999 movie starring Drag Queen Ru Paul.

Rev. Matt Jones, Pastor of the NW District of the Assemblies of God church in New Jersey refuted the allegation and also spoke in opposition to the bill. “The charges alleged by Brielle Goldani on March 18 of torture from the Assembly of God church are absolutely false, and the New Jersey Legislature should put that on record. The Assembly of God is about the love and transformation through Christ Jesus, and we do not support this bill’s attempt to limit the freedom of our church members to overcome unwanted homosexual feelings.”

“Gay activists supporting this bill have continued to make wild claims of the existence of these supposed “torture camps,” Doyle pointed out. “Troy Stevenson, Executive Director of Garden State Equality, has publicly claimed knowledge of the existence of eight such camps in Ohio and Oklahoma, yet he has refused to provide any supporting evidence despite his promise to do so and our repeated requests for it. We can only conclude that his claims are also just another untruth.”

Opponents of the bill stressed to the committee that scientific research, clinical results, and personal experiences all prove that homosexuals are not “born that way” but that same-sex attraction develops largely as a result of environmental factors and familial experiences. This means that for many people, unwanted same-sex attraction can be successfully resolved through counseling. Three of the witnesses, including Quinlan and Doyle, told of their own successes in changing from homosexual to heterosexual orientations and at least five other former homosexuals submitted written statements.

Because the research shows that there is a much higher incidence of childhood sexual abuse among same-sex attracted individuals compared to the heterosexual population, many therapists and researchers consider it a likely significant causative factor.” Doyle noted. Yet, despite this extensive personal and scientific evidence of the value and effectiveness of this therapy and the lack of any scientific evidence presented to prove that it is harmful or ineffective, the committee voted out the bill to the full Assembly for consideration.

“It would be completely unconscionable, and amounts almost to intentional child abuse, if the legislature were to deny minors with unwanted same-sex attraction and their parents, especially the victims of sexual abuse, access to psychotherapy that has been proven to be helpful,” Quinlan said. “For those who have been the victims of sexual predators like Jerry Sandusky, the State of New Jersey would be victimizing them again.”

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Voice of the Voiceless is the only anti-defamation league for former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions, and their families. For more information, visit: www.VoiceoftheVoiceless.info