California bans therapy to make teens 'straight'
Source: Agencies |
October 2, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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GOVERNOR Jerry Brown has signed legislation that makes California the first state in the US to ban a controversial form of psychotherapy aimed at making gay teenagers straight.
Effective from January 1, mental health practitioners are prohibited from performing sexual orientation change efforts - known as reparative or conversion therapy - for anyone under 18.
The therapies "have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery," Brown said in a statement.
Mainstream associations representing psychiatrists and psychologists have relegated reparative therapy to crackpot status in recent decades.
But some organizations and ministries continue to use counseling and prayer to try to help conflicted Christians rid themselves of unwanted homosexual inclinations. Gay rights activists have said the damage they inflict on individuals can be deep and lasting and can put youths at a higher risk of depression and suicide.
"We're grateful to Governor Brown for standing with California's children," the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement. "LGBT youth will now be protected from a practice that has not only been debunked as junk science, but has been proven to have drastically negative effects on their well-being."
It called on other states to follow California's lead.
Conservative religious groups and some Republicans have argued that banning conversion therapy would hinder parents' right to provide psychological care for children with gender confusion.
Effective from January 1, mental health practitioners are prohibited from performing sexual orientation change efforts - known as reparative or conversion therapy - for anyone under 18.
The therapies "have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery," Brown said in a statement.
Mainstream associations representing psychiatrists and psychologists have relegated reparative therapy to crackpot status in recent decades.
But some organizations and ministries continue to use counseling and prayer to try to help conflicted Christians rid themselves of unwanted homosexual inclinations. Gay rights activists have said the damage they inflict on individuals can be deep and lasting and can put youths at a higher risk of depression and suicide.
"We're grateful to Governor Brown for standing with California's children," the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement. "LGBT youth will now be protected from a practice that has not only been debunked as junk science, but has been proven to have drastically negative effects on their well-being."
It called on other states to follow California's lead.
Conservative religious groups and some Republicans have argued that banning conversion therapy would hinder parents' right to provide psychological care for children with gender confusion.
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