As an attorney I am at times shocked by the reactionary laws that remain "on the books" in various state codes of statutes even when the laws have not been actively enforced for years. Virginia has many such statutes - including the so called sodomy statute invalidated by the U.S, Supreme Court in 2003. With the American Psychological Association having outright condemned reparative therapy and homosexuality having ceased to be viewed as a mental illness for nearly 27 years, it is disturbing to say the least that a state like California continues to have a statute that mandates that that mandates a search for a “cure” for homosexuality. While the statute is beyond a doubt popular with the professional Christian set, modern medical and mental health knowledge reveals it to be a bigotedrelic. Now, at last a member of the California legislature is taking steps to have the statute relegated to the thrash heap of history. Here are highlights from the Sacramento Bee: *
Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal figures 43 years is long enough to try to "cure" homosexuality. So the Long Beach Democrat has introduced a bill that would strip a section from California's Welfare and Institutions Code mandating a search for such a cure.
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Assembly Bill 2199, is just one of hundreds of bills given birth this week by lawmakers scurrying to meet a Friday deadline for introducing legislation this session.
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Lowenthal thinks the edict's mere existence on the books is odious enough to warrant its demise. The fact this language has survived this long is pretty amazing," she said in a news release. "We need to blot it out and make it clear we're moving forward as a society, not backward."
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One can almost hear the anguished gasps from James Dobson and similar homophobes who have made a career out of depicting gays as diseased and/or mentally ill.
Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal figures 43 years is long enough to try to "cure" homosexuality. So the Long Beach Democrat has introduced a bill that would strip a section from California's Welfare and Institutions Code mandating a search for such a cure.
*
Assembly Bill 2199, is just one of hundreds of bills given birth this week by lawmakers scurrying to meet a Friday deadline for introducing legislation this session.
*
Lowenthal thinks the edict's mere existence on the books is odious enough to warrant its demise. The fact this language has survived this long is pretty amazing," she said in a news release. "We need to blot it out and make it clear we're moving forward as a society, not backward."
*
One can almost hear the anguished gasps from James Dobson and similar homophobes who have made a career out of depicting gays as diseased and/or mentally ill.
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