American Medical Association: Ban Conversion Therapy

I am a strong advocate of banning all "conversion therapy" in the USA, both for minors and adults, and there should be ZERO so-called religious exemptions from any such ban. Religious belief does not entitle the harming of others.  While I personally never was subjected to a formal conversion therapy program - or "ministry as the Christofascists disingenuously call them - I know a number of individuals that suffered that fate.  All were harmed by the experience and some have never fully recovered from the nightmare ordeal.  Now, the American Medical Association ("AMA") has come out more forcefully in calling for a total ban of the practice which has no basis in fact or science and is very dangerous.  From all the reading and researchers I have spoken with, the reality is that sexual orientation is largely set before birth as a result of hormone levels and nothing will reverse this natural wiring, if you will, one one's brain.  Add to this the reality that Christofascists have intentionally funded gay conversion therapy for the deliberate purpose of using the "change myth" as I call it for the purpose of opposing gay rights legislation. A piece in The Advocate looks at the AMA's increased effort to stop the fraudulent and harmful "therapy."  Here are highlights: 

The American Medical Association adopted several LGBTQ-supportive policies at a meeting Tuesday, endorsing bans on conversion therapy and backing inclusion of more information on transgender patients in electronic health records, and also pledged to address racial pay gaps in medicine.

The AMA has spoken out on these issues before, but the policies OK’d at a San Diego meeting of the House of Delegates strengthen its position, according to an AMA press release.

The physicians’ group has long opposed the use of conversion therapy, designed to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, but now it will support both federal and state bans on the practice, for both children and adults, and will develop model legislation for this purpose. Eighteen states and numerous cities and counties prohibit licensed therapists from subjecting minors to conversion therapy, but no jurisdiction in the U.S. bans its use on adults.

“The AMA heard testimony, including first-hand accounts, regarding the significant harms triggered by conversion therapy, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal thoughts and attempts,” the release states.

“It is clear to the AMA that the conversion therapy needs to end in the United States given the risk of deliberate harm to LGBTQ people,” AMA board member William E. Kobler, MD, said in the release. “Conversion therapy has no foundation as scientifically valid medical care and lacks credible evidence to support its efficacy or safety.”

The AMA further OK’d a policy urging accreditation bodies to continue to encourage medical schools to include information about sexual orientation and gender identity in their curricula and to evaluate the curricula periodically.

“These new policies from the American Medical Association reaffirm the urgent need to protect LGBTQ youth from this dangerous practice,” Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement, regarding the conversion therapy policy. “This policy will also be a critical resource for state legislators across the country as they work toward crafting legislation combating ‘conversion therapy.’ No child should have to endure this painful and life-threatening practice, and we are glad to see the AMA taking seriously the need to protect LGBTQ youth.

The voices of medical professionals have long been central to the growing support for LGBTQ-inclusive laws, policies and communities — these AMA policies continue that trend.”

Yes, the scamvangelist will shriek at this threat to their self-enrichment and the uneducated and ignorant will clutch their Bibles - or Korans - but science and knowledge need to prevail. The years I suffered silently trying to "change" were filled with much unhappiness, self-loathing and suicide attempts. No one should undergo this misery simply so religious fundamentalist can avoid being forced to admit that much of their faith is based on ignorance and superstition. 

Virginia Board of Psychology Votes to Ban Gay Conversion Therapy

Expect shrieks and screams and even possible lawsuits as Christofascists and charlatans who support so-called gay conversion therapy for political propaganda and/or self-enrichment through fraud react to the Virginia Board of Psychiatry's vote to ban conversion therapy for minors.  The usual smoke screen of "religious freedom" will no doubt be used to defend this form of child abuse and in some cases what borders on torture. The Board vote does not immediately end this dangerous practice but does set in motion the process to achieve a ban.  A piece in WUSA 9 looks at the development.  Here are highlights (note the comparison of conversion therapy to snake oil and tainted food): 

The Virginia Board of Psychology voted Tuesday to begin the process of banning its licensees from providing gay conversion therapy to minors in the state.

The Board of Psychology is the first of five professional licensing boards to take up the issue following a joint workgroup in October that brought together members of the psychology, counseling, social work, nursing and medical professions. The workgroup was convened at the Board of Psychology’s request after multiple legislative attempts at banning conversion therapy failed in the Virginia General Assembly.

Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy or sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), is a practice – viewed by most mental health organizations as not just ineffective, but potentially harmful – that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual, or at least to diminish what supporters call “unwanted same-sex attraction.”

It is illegal to perform conversion therapy on minors in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Last week, New York voted to become the 15th state to ban the practice on minors. New York City banned conversion therapy for anyone of any age last year.

On Tuesday, the Board of Psychology voted to send a notice of regulatory action to the attorney general’s office – the first step in a roughly 18-month process to enact new regulation. The board also voted to issue a guidance document, which will go up for public comment next month, about possible penalties if a licensed practitioner is found to be providing conversion therapy to minors.

Dr. Herb Stewart, chairman of the Board of Psychology, said he believes a regulatory ban is necessary to protect Virginia youth.

“Some of these therapists are well-meaning. Some of them are driven much more by ideology,” Stewart said. “But the bottom line is, I think that it’s sufficiently harmful and clearly ineffective, and I think it’s the role of the state to come in and say it’s not OK. You can’t do that. Whether it’s peddling bad food or peddling snake oil or providing conversion therapy. I think it’s an important role for us to take, and I hope that we can move this forward.”

Jaime Hoyle, executive director of the Boards of Psychology, Counseling and Social Work, said she expects the rest of the boards in the workgroup to take up similar regulatory language during their next meetings. The Board of Counseling will meet next on Feb. 8, followed by the Board of Social Work on March 15. A joint meeting of the Boards of Nursing and Medicine is schedule for Feb. 13.

In addition to the support of the professional boards, regulation banning conversion therapy for minors would also have to receive approval from the governor, attorney general, secretary of health and human services and the Department of Planning & Budget before going into effect.

Virginia Needs to Ban Conversion Therapy in 2019

The movie "Boy Erased" starring Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Lucas Hedges now playing in theaters will hopefully bring a much needed on the fraudulent practice known as "ex-gay therapy" or "conversion therapy."  Long condemned by legitimate medical and mental health associations and admitted to be fraudulent by some prominent former proponents, the practice unfortunately remains legal in Virginia even for minors despite the fact that it ultimately constitutes a horrible form of psychological child abuse.  Its supporters laughably call it a form of "free speech" that should not be regulated by the state always underplaying, of course, (i) the cash cows these farcical "ministries" are to their operators - e.g., Michelle Bachmann's husband's "Christian counseling center" - and (ii) the manner the myth that sexual orientation is a choice that has been used by Christofascists for decades to block LGBT non-discrimination laws.  The "free speech" argument is particularly specious since most LGBT teens are forced into such "ministries" by their parents who place Bronze Age stories above the well-being of their children.  A piece at WTVR out of Richmond looks at the effort of one victim of the conversion therapy fraud to make the practice illegal in the 2019 session of the Virginia General Assembly.  Here are excerpts:

PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va.-- Is homosexuality a choice? That's what 29-year-old Adam Trimmer was taught  while growing up in Prince George and attending a Southern Baptist church.  At the age of 17 Trimmer revealed to his mother, Paulette, a closely held secret.  "We were sitting at a stoplight and he said, 'Mom, I have something to tell you,'" Paulette recalled. Adam told his mother he was gay.

"I looked at him and said, 'Adam, a man shall not lay with another man," she responded. "When he came out to me I quote scripture to him. I did not hug him and I did not tell him I love him."  A year later in college, Adam attempted suicide feeling rejected by his parents and his first love.

While in the hospital recovering, a youth pastor recommended Adam seek help through reparative or conversion therapy. "Healing from homosexuality, that was the verbiage that was presented to me," Adam explained. "I believed [the pastor] and I was ready to change. He recommended Exodus International."

Since the 1970's, the American Psychiatric Association established homosexuality wasn't a mental disorder.  However, since then multiple religious organizations, like Exodus International, offer conversion therapy to individuals who aim to move from a homosexual to a heterosexual lifestyle.

James Parrish, the executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Virginia in Richmond, has lobbied the General Assembly to ban the controversial practice for years. "It is fraudulent and it is junk science," Parrish stated. "It is operating under the assumption that there’s something wrong with being gay and there’s nothing wrong with being gay. Unfortunately, some of these parents think they are helping their children, but they’re actually putting kids in harms way."

A bill that would prohibit licensed professionals from performing the therapy on minors was voted down in the Virginia Senate Education and Health Committee back in January. State Sen. Amanda Chase (R-District 11), who represents parts of Chesterfield County, all of Colonial Heights and Amelia County, was one of eight republicans who voted against the bill.

"I don’t think the government should be in the business of restricting free speech and that’s what we are talking about here," Chase said. "If the pastor is also a licensed counselor he should not be afraid of losing his license. We want freedom for all of our constituents we don’t want to shut down that opportunity for help if they want do that."

Multiple medical associations warn against the practice explaining it does more harm than good and research shows children who undergo conversion therapy are more likely to commit suicide.

Equality Virginia's Parrish considers all forms of conversion therapy as abuse, which can be harmful to an individual.  "We’ve stood in front of them year in year out and showed the science and the data that this puts kids in danger," he stated.
 Adam became distant from his parents. "They had brainwashed Adam thinking it was my fault that I was a bad mother and his dad was a bad father," Paulette said. "Exodus all about destroyed our relationship. He came home hating me hating, his dad and being so upset with himself."

A new movie out in theaters called Boy Erased depicts classes to teach boys how to act more straight.

"All that was happening was I was entering a life of suppression," Adam explained. Exodus International's owner shut down his organization saying he's never seen it work. He also issued a public apology.

However, the practice of conversion therapy is still occurring in Central Virginia. One organization that Adam sought help through was the Christian ministry, Set Free Richmond, which currently lists its address on Monument Avenue.

Paulette Trimmer regrets helping her son attend conversion therapy sessions. "It’s misleading and conversion therapy can destroy families. That’s not good, that’s not good," she said.

Adam left conversion therapy on his own and is now openly gay. He created the support group Love Actually Won RVA for survivors of conversion therapy.  His mother wishes she told her son that she loved him when he came out to her nearly 10 years ago.

Contact your members of the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates and make it clear you want the practice banned in the 2019 session of the Virginia General Assembly and that they have more to fear from constituents like you than The Family Foundation, Virginia's leading anti-gay hate group.  As for State Senator Amanda Chase, she needs to be openly targeted for defeat in November, 2019. 

"Outed" Conversion Therapist: "Unable to Help Myself"

A psychologist who claimed he could "cure" homosexuality and was found looking for gay sex now says he needs help.

Each time a right wing anti-gay, pro-conversion therapy hypocrite gets "outed" and exposed as a lying fraud, they whine about the pain inflicted on their families, ignoring, of course, their own role in their own undoing.  Recently "outed" Florida psychologist Norman Goldwasser - who had a "Manhunt"  profile with images of him naked and highlighting his interests in “dating,” “kissing,” “married men,” and “massage” - for years preyed on LGBT youths and their families selling them the snake oil that sexual orientation can be "changed" is no exception.  Goldwasser and other charlatans like him care nothing about the harm they have done to members of the LGBT community but want everyone to be sensitive to feelings.  The brazen hypocrisy is stunning. A piece in The Advocate looks at Goldwasser's self-centered bleating.  Here are excerpts:

Florida psychologist Norman Goldwasser, who provided conversion therapy, designed to make gay people straight, and was found looking for hookups on gay dating apps, has responded to his outing.

"The fact that this story and others have been brought to the public is incredibly painful but will become a catalyst for me seeking the right help for myself," Goldwasser told NBC News in an email. 

Goldwasser, who has said that being gay is was an ailment like obsessive-compulsive disorder and claimed he could "cure" it, was found using the screen name "hotnhairy72" on Manhunt and Gay Bear Nation. His Manhunt profile, which is now deleted, included images of him naked and highlighted his interests in “dating,” “kissing,” “married men,” and “massage.”

I obviously was unable to help myself," Goldwasser wrote in his email to NBC News. "There is no justification for my personal behavior and I deeply regret the pain I have caused people in my personal life."

Goldwasser, an Orthodox Jew, is a therapist at  Horizon Psychological Services in Miami Beach and previously worked at the now-defunct Jewish conversion therapy program Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, known by the acronym JONAH. The program, which operated in secret even after courts ordered it shut down, used the Torah to justify homophobia.

“Goldwasser can’t claim his personal life is none of our business when trying to ‘cure’ LGBT people is his business,” [Wayne] Besen said. “Here is a case where a charlatan is committing consumer fraud by misleading clients and adversely affecting their mental health. We are particularly concerned when Goldwassser’s scam preys on young people susceptible to his charade.” Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have outlawed the use of conversion therapy on minors by state-licensed professionals, as have numerous cities. But still, about 700,000 LGBTQ people have been subjected to conversion therapy, according to the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.

  

Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe to Star in Expose on Conversion Therapy "Ministries"

One of the biggest lies - although, there are so many lies, that ranking can be challenging - disseminated by Christofascists and many evangelical Christians is that sexual orientation is a "choice" and that gays can "change" and become heterosexual.  As noted in a number of previous posts, there are several reasons for the insistence that sexual orientation is a choice: (i) if being gay is not a choice and is "how God made" some of us, then questions arise as to what other aspects of evangelical Christian dogma is untrue; (ii) the choice myth is employed repeatedly to argue that LGBT citizens need no non-discrimination protections, and (iii) so-called conversion therapy "ministries" are cash cows with families often paying small fortunes to "change" their children.  Every legitimate medical and mental health association in America condemns conversion therapy and states that it doesn't work and is dangerous. Indeed, a growing number of states ban the practice on minors by licensed therapist.  The result is more fraudulent, dangerous and damaging "Christian ministries" peddling the ex-gay myth.   Now, as Rolling Stone reports a new movie, Boy Erased, starring Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman will be released in November, 2018 (a trailer can be found here). The movie is based on a 2016 book of the same name and will likely paint a very negative picture of the frauds and harm being committed by these "ministries."  This from Rolling Stone:

Boy Erased stars Hedges as Garrard, while Kidman plays his mother and Crowe his father, who also happens to be a Baptist pastor. The trailer offers a glimpse into the psychological and sometimes physical abuse such conversion programs inflict on those forced to attend. . . . The film is based on Garrard Conley’s 2016 memoir of the same name about his experience at a gay conversion therapy program, which he attended at 19 at the behest of his religious parents.

A piece in the Washington Post looked at the book upon which the movie is based.  Here are highlights:

In 2004, when Garrard Conley was 19, he entered a Christian fundamentalist program, Love in Action, to cleanse himself of homosexuality. 

Conley, the only child of his devoutly Baptist parents in small-town Arkansas, had been dramatically outed by a fellow student during his first semester at a small liberal arts college. The timing couldn’t have been worse. His decision to enter the fundamentalist group (known as LIA) came as his father was becoming an ordained Baptist minister.

 [A]although he paints a convincing picture of why the foundation of his loving parents’ religious faith made his fight against homosexuality vital, he leaves the reader wondering why an erudite and intellectually curious young man didn’t find more cracks in that foundation. He does find cracks in the foundation of LIA, which uses a warped version of a 12-step program that replaces addictive behavior such as alcoholism with “sexual deviance,” lumping homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia. Conley’s close relationship with his mother, who sits vigil with him in a depressing hotel room as he tries to weather the ordeal of LIA, is a tender portrait of that special bond so many gay men and their mothers have: “For the moment, it seemed like the two of us could go on this way forever, living only for literature and each other.” As for Conley’s father, he remains abstruse, despite Conley’s explorations of his abusive childhood. Ultimately their paths diverge. His father is ordained, and Conley rejects LIA.

“God’s voice is no longer there,” Conley writes. “My ex-gay therapists took Him away from me, and no matter how many different churches I attend, I will feel the same dead weight in my chest.” God erased. Let’s hope that the parents still reading “Where Does a Mother Go to Resign?” start reading “Boy Erased” instead.

Parents contemplating placing their child in one of these "ministries" or listening to they false propaganda would be better served - if they truly love their child and are not more focused on themselves and "what will people think" - to find a new religious denomination.  One that is not homophobic and obsessed with selectively cherry picking phrases from the Old Testament to malign and denigrate others.

For the record, I was never placed in a "ex-gay ministry" although I tried more or less for 37 years to pray away the gay and tried some of the conversion therapy gimmicks.  None of it worked.  All I experience was self-hate and psychological and emotional harm that ultimately lead to two serious suicide attempts.  The propaganda that these ministries peddle is very, very dangerous.

Kudos to Kidman and Crowe for taking these roles and hopefully exposing the "change myth" lie. 

Hawaii Becomes 12th State to Ban Bogus "Ex-Gay" Therapy

Among the many exceedingly dishonest things self-style Christian "family values" organizations do is to peddle the discredited myth that sexual orientation is a "choice" and can be "cured" by appropriate "therapy."  Every legitimate mental health and medical association in America has condemned the practice and labeled it unethical for licensed therapists.  It's a topic in which I am well versed.  One of my first efforts at LGBT activism was when I helped to expose Michael Johnston, the poster boy for a campaign backed who's who of the misnamed Christian Right, as a fraud complete fraud and anything but "ex-gay."  Making matters worse, Johnston who was HIV+ was sleeping around the Hampton Roads area of Virginia in gay hook ups without disclosing his HIV status.  For years after Johnston went into hiding at a right wing Christian "ministry" many "family values" organizations continued to sell videos featuring him and touting the ex-gay myth even though they knew full well that Johnston and conversion therapy were both complete frauds.  Why?  Money and to perpetuate the "choice myth" to oppose civil rights fro LGBT individuals.   

Now, Hawaii joins eleven other states which have banned so-called "conversion therapy" for those under age 18.  Virginia and other states need to follow suit.   Here are highlights from Hawaii News Now on the development in Hawaii:

State lawmakers on Friday approved a ban on so-called 'gay conversion therapy' treatments conducted on minors.

Gay rights advocates say the practice, which is largely discredited by healthcare professionals, does more harm than good to those who are subjected to it.

"This has been a priority of the caucus for years," said Michael Golojuch, chair of the LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii. "(The measure) ensures that LGQTB youth will not be tortured by mental health professionals."

Several states, including California, Oregon and New Jersey, have already passed similar laws. Maryland passed legislation banning the practice earlier this month. 

The bill was opposed by religious groups who consider sexual orientation a choice.
 

The full list of states (prior to Hawaii's vote) banning ex-gay conversion therapy is as follows: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia.  In addition, several dozen cities and counties have enacted bans on the practice. 

NARTH Ex-Gay Torture Founder Joseph Nicolosi Dead

Nicolosi - the face of hate and evil

One of the biggest lies promoted by the Christofascists  - and even the Vatican - is the myth that sexual orientation is a "choice" and that through "conversion therapy" or "reparative therapy," gays could become heterosexual.  All gays needed to do was admit their sinful behavior and decide to "change."  One of the high priests of this dishonest campaign was Joseph Nicolosi, a co-founder of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), which peddled the "choice" myth for decades - and made a plush living "treating" desperate gays and getting paid for speaking engagements at Christofascist venues.  As The Daily Beast reports, Nicolosi died today at age 70, leaving behind him a wake of lives damaged - or ended through suicide -  by the foul lies and practices Nicolosi championed.  Here are highlights on the passing of this foul individual:

Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a co-founder of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and a prominent figure in the ex-gay movement, has passed away, the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic, where he served as clinical director, confirmed over the phone to The Daily Beast. Nicolosi, 70, was a practitioner of conversion or reparative therapy, treatments intended to change a person’s sexual orientation that have been widely denounced by major medical associations—including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association—and banned by legislation in five states: Vermont, Oregon, New Jersey, Illinois, and California.

As noted in numerous previous posts, Nicolosi and other practitioners of "conversion therapy"  not only enriched themselves at the expense of others, but also aided GOP allies by claiming that LGBT nondiscrimination protections  are unnecessary since homosexuality is a choice and a behavior, not an inherent characteristic. I may sound cruel, but the world is a better place now that Nicolosi has left it.  The damage he did will long out live him. 

Right Wing Christian Convicted in Isabella Miller-Jenkins Kidnapping

Kidnapping conspirator, Philip Zodhiates, a "godly Christian"

From time to time I have posted about the continuing saga of the Isabella Miller-Jenkins kidnapping in the wake of her mothers' split.  My interest in the story is three-fold (four fold if one considers the Virginia ties).  First, the custody struggle was one of the first time the always reactionary Virginia Supreme Court ruled for a LGBT petitioner. Second, the case highlights the bogus "pray away the gay" scams operated by "Christian ministries" out to fleece the desperate and/or gullible.  Lastly, it demonstrates the manner in which Christian extremists view themselves as above the civil laws.  Adding to the intrigue is the role that Liberty University and Matt Staver, head of the hysterically anti-gay Liberty Counsel, seem to have played in aiding and abetting lawbreakers.  ABC News has details on the criminal conviction of one of the co-conspirators in the kidnapping of Isabella Miller-Jenkins.  Here are highlights:

A federal jury in Buffalo returned the verdict against Philip Zodhiates, of Waynesboro, on Thursday after hearing during a week long trial how he had driven Lisa Miller and 7-year-old Isabella Miller-Jenkins from Virginia to the Canadian border in 2009 so they could fly from Toronto to Nicaragua, and had helped with their living arrangements in the Central American nation.

Neither Miller nor Isabella, now 14, have been seen in the United States since.

Lawyers for Zodhiates, the owner of a direct mail business that serves conservative Christian groups, denied that he was trying to obstruct the other mother's parental rights by helping Miller, who became an evangelical Christian after dissolving her civil union with Janet Jenkins in Vermont.

Miller, who gave birth to Isabella during the civil union, defied court orders granting Jenkins visitation and left the country shortly before a court shifted custody to Jenkins, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Van de Graaf said.

Miller also is charged with international parental kidnapping and conspiracy and is considered a fugitive.

A third defendant, Timothy Miller, recently was arrested after being deported by Nicaragua, U.S. Attorney William Hochul's office said Thursday.

A fourth defendant, Kenneth Miller, a Mennonite pastor, was convicted of international parental kidnapping in Vermont in 2012.

None of the Millers are related.  Kenneth Miller, of Stuarts Draft, Virginia, is serving a 27-month prison sentence.

 Zodhiates faces up to eight years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 30.

In my view, it is unfortunate that criminal charges were not brought against Matt Staver, a thoroughly vie individual and modern day Pharisee, in my opinion. 

SCOTUS Refuses To Hear Appeal Of New Jersey’s Ban On Ex-Gay "Therapy"

Click image to enlarge

Liberty Counsel - which has a record of losing equaled by that of the horrifically misnamed Alliance Defending Freedom - has suffered another loss.  The United States Supreme Court has denied certiorari on Liberty Counsel’s appeal seeking to overturn New Jersey’s ban on ex-gay torture "therapy."   It is the second loss on this issue for Liberty Counsel. Back in June 2014 when the Court rejected a similar appeal of California’s ban on ex-gay "therapy."  In both instances, the lower court's found that the bans were permissible and directed at protecting minors form harmful therapy condemned by medical and mental health care associations.   Not surprisingly, Staver whines that protecting minors from fraudulent, witch doctor like therapy tramples on religious freedom.  

This bogus therapy needs to be banned nationwide.

Fraudulent "Gay Conversion Therapy" Group to Shut Down

While the Roman Catholic Church and a host of fraudulent "ministries" run by anti-gay religious affiliated organizations continue to peddle the myth that gays can "change," after losing a consumer fraud case this past summer, Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing ("JONAH") will be closing its doors permanently.  Would that similar lawsuits would be brought against similar charlatan run organizations.  One irony is that the founder of JONAH is a former felon who did prison time for securities fraud.  He went from one form of fraud to another, having discovered that money could be made by preying on religiously conflicted gays and their desperate families.  Mother Jones looks at the demise of this foul operation.  Here are article highlights:

A so-called "gay conversion therapy" group in New Jersey has agreed to permanently close its doors after losing a landmark court battle this summer.

As Mother Jones reported, a jury determined in June that Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, or JONAH, had violated state consumer fraud law by claiming it could help change clients' sexual orientations from gay to straight. It was the first case in the nation to challenge conversion therapy as consumer fraud.

Judge Peter F. Bariso Jr. granted a permanent injunction after both sides reached a settlement requiring JONAH to cease operations, permanently dissolve as a corporate entity, and liquidate all its assets.

"The end of JONAH signals that conversion therapy, however packaged, is fraudulent—plain and simple," David Dinielli, deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a statement. The center filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs.

Michael Ferguson, one of the plaintiffs, added, "Gay conversion therapy stole years from my life, and nearly stole my life. My hope is that others can be spared the unneeded harm that comes from the lies the defendants and those like them spread."

Conversion therapy has been rejected by major health organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, which in 1973 removed homosexuality from the list of disorders in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Last year, a transgender teen committed suicide in Ohio after participating in conversion therapy, inspiring a campaign for a federal ban on the practice. New Jersey, California, and Washington, DC, have laws banning licensed conversion therapists from working with minors.

In a pretrial decision in February, Judge Bariso wrote, "The theory that homosexuality is a disorder is not novel—but like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it—instead is outdated and refuted."

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Calls for End of "Ex-Gay" Therapy (SAMHSA)

As long time readers know, I am a vocal opponent to "ex-gay" therapy or "conversion therapy" and believe that the practice needs to be banned nationwide, especially for minors.  While I never underwent formal "ex-gay" therapy myself, for many, many years I tried to "pray away the Gay" and try to change my attractions.  I never changed, but I was filled with self-hate and self-loathing and believed that it was my fault that I did not "change."  The result? Years of inner unhappiness and constant thoughts of suicide.  Nowadays, all legitimate medical and mental health associations condemn "ex-gay" therapy and hold that it does not work and has the potential for great harm.  The take away? Those who push or engage in administering "ex-gay" therapy are delusional, charlatans or both.  Now, the  Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has upped the stakes and called for a nationwide ban of "ex-gay" therapy.  Here are highlights from the Administration's press release:

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is releasing “Ending Conversion Therapy: Supporting and Affirming LGBTQ Youth,” a comprehensive report that provides an in-depth review of research and clinical expertise related to conversion therapy.  This important new resource makes it clear that conversion therapy is not an appropriate therapeutic approach based on the evidence, and explores alternative ways to discuss sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression with young people.

This report includes the first publication of consensus statements developed by an expert panel held by the American Psychological Association in July 2015.  The expert panel included researchers and practitioners in child and adolescent mental health with a strong background in gender development, gender identity, and sexual orientation in children and adolescents.  Experts with a background in family therapy, ethics, and the psychology of religion also participated.

Through a collaborative process, this panel found that variations in sexual orientation and gender identity are normal, and that conversion therapies or other efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity are not effective, are harmful, and are not appropriate therapeutic practices.  The report provides an overview of existing efforts to eliminate the practice of conversion therapy.

The information and resources contained within the report include a review of the research in this area, detailed information on supportive therapeutic approaches, areas of opportunity for future research, existing strategies to end the practice of conversion therapy, and targeted guidance for various audiences.

These materials help providers, families, and care-givers support their LGBTQ and gender non-conforming children and adolescents.  They also illuminate practices that may contribute to the health disparities facing LGBTQ youth, which should be avoided.

The full report can be found here.  Here are a few important findings:

[C]onversion therapy—efforts to change an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression —is a practice that is not supported by credible evidence and has been disavowed by behavioral health experts and associations. Conversion therapy perpetuates outdated views of gender roles and identities as well as the negative stereotype that being a sexual or gender minority or identifying as LGBTQ is an abnormal aspect of human development. Most importantly, it may put young people at risk of serious harm.

Eliminating the practice of conversion therapy with sexual and gender minority minors is an important step, but it will not alleviate the myriad of stressors they experience as a result of interpersonal, institutional, and societal bias and discrimination against sexual and gender minorities.

Interventions aimed at a fixed outcome, such as gender conformity or heterosexual orientation, including those aimed at changing gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation are coercive, can be harmful, and should not be part of behavioral health treatments. 

The ban needs to be nationwide and there need to be NO exceptions for quack religious based "ministries."  I would go even farther and advocate that submitting one's child to "ex-gay" therapy should be grounds for the termination of parental rights.  There should be no exceptions and no undeserved deference to "deeply held religious belief."   

During Papal Visit Popre Francis to Meet with "Ex-Gay" Quacks

Gays being burned alive by the Church

It took the Roman Catholic Church centuries to admit that it had been wrong in supporting slavery, and centuries again to formally admit that its treatment of Galileo was wrong.  How long will it take the Church to admit that its treatment of gays nearly 800 years was wrong?   It would seem that such an admission will not be forthcoming anytime soon as we learn that while in America on his papal visit Pope Francis will be meeting with the Catholic Church's own fraudulent "ex-gay" organization insanely called "Courage."  What Courage peddles involves anything but courage.  Lies, fraud, self-deception, self-hate, and snake oil marketeers all better describe what is being promoted.  The fact that Francis will meet with a group promoting "therapy which is condemned by every legitimate medical and mental health association in America and is  legally banned in California, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., speaks volumes to the sad reality that Francis is not the reformer some like Andrew Sullivan continue to want to see him as being.  He may be better than the Nazi Pope, Benedict XVI, but on issues of human sexuality, Francis is still back in the 13th century.  Think Progress looks at the group Francis will legitimize by meeting.  Here are story highlights:

[W]hen the pope travels to Philadelphia next month to attend the World Meeting of Families, he’ll be rubbing elbows with people known for advocating a very different kind of conversion: Ex-gay therapy.

Ex-gay therapy, or attempts to change an LGBT person’s sexual orientation, has been widely discredited for being ineffective at best and destructive at worst. Some former advocates of the practice have publicly recanted and apologized for promoting it, the American Psychological Association has condemned its use, and it is legally banned in California, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington, D.C.

Yet so-called “reparative therapy” has long enjoyed pockets of support with conservative Christian circles, and some of its backers will be present at the World Meeting of Families next month.

Courage  . . . . officially rejects the label of ex-gay ministry, claiming instead that its employees promote a lifetime of celibacy for homosexual Catholics, saying the organization “prefers to think of itself as a ‘Pro-Chastity’ ministry.”

Yet Courage has repeatedly challenged the validity of this distinction. It has invited professional ex-gay therapists to lead trainings at conferences, and the suggested reading list on the Courage’s website includes several publications promoting ex-gay therapy written by ex-gay counselors.

The group’s executive director, Rev. Paul Check, has also voiced support for more explicit forms of ex-gay therapy. . . . he does not support laws banning ex-gay therapy organizations for children, arguing that it is an “unproven assertion” that such “change” counseling “does harm to people.”

Several other Catholic leaders with connections to ex-gay therapy are also expected to give talks or lead discussions at the convening. Dr. Janet Smith, a speaker for Courage who has publicly promoted a pamphlet that advocates for the “prevention” and “treatment” of same-sex attraction in children, is scheduled to lead a breakout session at the conference. So too is Christopher West, a theologian who has positively reviewed books on “reparative ministries” and is listed on the board of references for the Restored Hope Network, an ex-gay group.

[T]he Archdiocese of Philadelphia has refused to allow a local parish to host a workshop on gender identity during Pope Francis’ visit, forcing organizers — the Catholic group New Ways Ministry — to relocate a nearby Methodist church.

Ex-gay therapy is also widely rejected by most Catholics. A 2011 poll from the Public Religion Research Institute found that an overwhelming majority of American Catholics (69 percent) don’t believe that sexual orientation can be changed, and the group is actually more supportive of same-sex marriage than any other American Christian denomination. . . . the majority of Catholics embrace LGBT people while the Church hierarchy continues to push back against acceptance — and sometimes firing people for being “publicly” gay.

My advice to gay Catholics: walk away from the Church and encourage your friends and families to do likewise.  The Episcopal Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America provide the same liturgical services - they are basically Catholic masses - without the corrupt Church hierarchy and the daily denigration of LGBT individuals.  That Francis will meet with "ex-gay" charlatans speaks volumes and none of it good. Being gay and remaining Catholic is like a black individual joining and participating in a pro-slavery, pro-segregation Southern Baptist Church.  It's insane.

ILLINOIS: Governor Signs Bill Banning Ex-Gay Torture

The "ex-gay" myth and claims that sexual orientation are a choice have been among the weapons the Christofascists have used in their war against LGBT equality.  Never mind that every legitimate medical and mental health association - i.e., those not bankrolled as fronts for anti-gay "family values" organizations - condemn "ex-gay" therapy and bogus church affiliated "ministries."  Slowly states are belatedly beginning to recognize the evils and fraud perpetrated by these voodoo like ministries and unethical therapist.  Now Illinois has joined the list of states banning the practice.  Here are highlights from a the Human Rights Campaign press release:

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 217 into law, making Illinois the fifth jurisdiction—behind California, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and Oregon—to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangers of conversion therapy. House Bill 217, which protects LGBTQ youth from mental health providers attempting to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through these practices, which are linked to substance abuse, extreme depression, and suicide, was overwhelmingly approved by the Illinois House of Representatives and General Assembly.

The law will go into effect January 1, 2016. “We are thrilled that Illinois has joined the rapidly growing number of states leading the way to protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy,” said the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) #BornPerfect Campaign Coordinator and Staff Attorney Samantha Ames. “Illinois families can now have confidence that the mental health professional they turn to in times of uncertainty may not use their state license to profit from their children’s pain. Most importantly, Illinois kids can now rest easy in the knowledge that they cannot be forced or coerced to undergo dangerous and discredited treatments to fix who they are. Today brings us one step closer to the day when all LGBTQ youth know they were born perfect.”

No doubt the usual hate merchants will be crying as if someone had pissed in their Cheerios.  I wish legislatures would go a step further: make subjecting one's child to ex-gay therapy a felony child abuse offense.

New Jersey "Ex-Gay" Fraud Case - Not Going Well for JONAH

For years Wayne Besen and I savored the vision of "ex-gay" proponents being forced to defend their fraudulent practices in court under oath and subject to the rules of discovery.  That dream is happening now in a New Jersey court in Ferguson v. JONAH and what's going down is the "ex-gay" charlatans' worse nightmare.  Making things even more delicious, if you will, is that it is ALL being captured in court transcripts.   Equality Case Files ("ECF") is keeping a record of the proceedings here.  On its Facebook page, ECF looks at a portion of recent proceedings that show just how fraudulent the so-called "ex-gays" for pay are in fact and that their "cures" are simple fantasies and self-delusion.  Here's a sampling of the batshitery and the court's reaction (NOTE: remember, this crap is being peddled daily by "ministries" and fraudulent "Christian counselors" like Marcus "Marcia" Bachmann):

On Wednesday and Thursday, we heard from five of JONAH's "success story" witnesses - three as live testimony and two by watching excerpts of their videotaped depositions.Two of the live witnesses - Jeffrey Bennion and Preston Robert Dahlgren - are men from the TLC show "My Husband's Not Gay." 

During cross-examination, Mr. Bennion admitted that the he does not identify as heterosexual because he is "predominantly sexually attracted to men." (transcript pg 2411) 

He also admitted that during his deposition he testified that he was satisfied with the sexual relationship he has with his wife and that "Part of that satisfaction for [him] is accepting that [he] can't always achieve an erection" or climax. He clarified that referred to "In my marriage". Cross continued with:

- Q. And in some cases, finding other ways to share and celebrate your connection with your wife is what is satisfying to you?
- A. Yes.
- Q. Because you can have a good time even if you are, as you put it, limp as a wet noodle?
- A. Sure, yes.
(transcript pp 2411-12)

The first video played was that of David DeJiacomo from Denver, Colorado. The tape ran nearly two hours. Following the video, and after the jury left the room, the judge asked, 

"Is this what the other tapes are going to be like? Because two-thirds of that is irrelevant. ... you guys better look at the tapes, because I'm going to start objecting to them during the middle of the trial, because most of this was irrelevant. I don't understand what the accomplishment was there. I'm not even sure how it's a success story witness, based on his testimony." (transcript page 2573). "Look at the tapes, or I will start objecting myself in front of the jury."

This bullshit "therapy" needs to be illegal nationwide!  What truly leaves me dumbstruck is that the wives of these "ex-gays" are willing to accept such a fraudulent and farcical marriage.  WTF is wrong with them??

The Bible As Justification for Child Abuse

One of the many evils of the Bible is the manner in which it provides parents citing "deeply held religious belief" justification for what is nothing less than child abuse.  This abuse ranges from physical beatings, deprivation of medical treatment, forced "ex-gay" conversion, to a treatment of children as little better than chattel property.  Sadly, Republicans not only are OK with such abuse but in some states are seeking to expand protections for parents who ought to be criminally prosecuted. A piece in Salon looks at this foul aspect of the Bible and conservative Christians.  Here are highlights:

Why do the same people who fight against abortion argue that parents should have the right to beat their children and deny them medical care or education, as some conservative Republicans have done recently? How can someone oppose family planning because a pill or IUD might have the rare and unintended consequence of interfering with implantation, and then endorse beating a child, which might have the rare and unintended consequence of battering her to death?

These two positions fit together seamlessly only when we understand the Iron Age view of the child imbedded throughout the Bible, and how that view has shaped the priorities and behavior of biblical literalists.

In 2014, Pentecostal parents Herbert and Catherine Schaible went to jail after a second of their nine children died from easily treatable bacterial pneumonia. The Schaibles belong to a sect that relies on prayer for physical as well as spiritual healing. In a police statement, Herbert Schiable explained that medicine “is against our religious beliefs.” 

Most devout Bible believers turn to science when their children can’t breathe, but 38 US states have now passed laws to protect parents who don’t—along with parents who beat their children in accordance with biblical advice, or deny them education on religious grounds.

[L]egislators in multiple states are looking to expand laws that exempt parents like the Schaibles from criminal charges. Georgia recently introduced legislation that appears to offer legal cover to parents who beat their children (and men who beat their wives) for religious reasons. In Idaho, despite more than a dozen child deaths linked to one small sect called the Followers of Christ, Republican state legislators introduced a bill in February granting parents broader leeway to harm children—as long as their motives are religious.  

Since the Supreme Court’s 2014 Hobby Lobby decision, conservative Christians in the U.S. are testing “religious freedom” claims as a means to opt out of a wide array of rules and responsibilities that otherwise apply to all Americans. . . . . exemption from child rights and protections should be thought of as a fourth leg of the “religious freedom” agenda.

Devout Bible believers regularly oppose child protective services, insisting that the right of religious adults to do as they choose trumps the right of children to be free from harm. Evangelical Christian leaders fought the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, making the U.S. one of two countries (along with Somalia) that failed to endorse it. In some U.S. locales, like the State of Virginia, they have sought and won the right to deny children basic education, including the ability to read and write.

In the Iron Age mindset of the Bible writers, children are not individual persons who have their own thoughts, with corresponding rights. Rather, like livestock and slaves, they are possessions of the male head of household, and the biblical framework governing treatment of children is property laws, not individual rights laws.

The term chattelrefers to moveable personal property, economic assets that are not real estate. In the Bible, children, like slaves and livestock, are chattel. Male children grow up to become persons, while females remain chattelthroughout their lives, first as assets of their fathers, then as assets of their husbands.

[T]he biblical formula for parenthood is based on several core assumptions:

§  Children are property of their fathers. This is why God can allow Satan to kill Job’s children  during a wager over Job’s loyalty—and then simply replace them. It is why a man who injures a woman causing her to miscarry must pay her husband for the loss.

§  Children are born bad and must be beaten to keep them from going astray. This mentality combines the idea of original sin because Eve defied God and ate from the Tree of Knowledge, with “spare the rod, spoil the child”admonitions from the book of Proverbs. It is one reason that early Christians believed that Jesus, as the perfect “lamb without blemish” could not have a human father and so added the virgin birth story to the Gospels at the end of the 1st Century.

§  A father’s right of ownership extends even to killing his child. This is why it makes sense for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac or Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter, or even God to give his “only begotten son” as a human sacrifice. In the Torah, a man can send his child into battle or sell his child into slavery. The Torah advises that a rebellious son should be put to death.

§  The primary value of adult females is to produce valuable children, meaning male children of known origin. Hence, a female’s virginity is a core part of her economic value. This is why a rapist can be forced to marry the damaged goods in the Torah as is sometimes the case in conservative Islam today, or a female can be stoned for pre-marital sex. In the Hebrew Torah, the wives of the patriarchs send their slave girls to get pregnant by their husbands to up the baby count. In modern America, Evangelical girls attend purity balls and receive promise rings by which they pledge their sexual purity to their fathers until they can be “given in marriage.”

In sum, it is much easier to extrapolate from the biblical worldview to the idea that a parent has the right to beat his child or withhold medical care, or that a teenage sex slave should be forced to bear a child, than to derive the idea that we have a responsibility to bring children into the world under the best of circumstances and to acknowledge their rights as individuals once they arrive. These are fundamentally post-biblical ideas, as is the notion that empowering women to delay or limit childbearing is a positive social good.

For those who are not bound to the priorities of the Iron Age, fetishizing fetal life while hurting and disempowering women or children is morally incoherent.

Sigmund Freud Trashed "Ex-Gay" Conversion Therapy 80 Years Ago

If one follows the crackpots, frauds and charlatans who enrich themselves by peddling the "ex-gay" myth, they all claim that therapy can change one's sexual orientation.  Ironically, 80 years ago Sigmund Freud condemned "ex-gay" therapy and stated that it doesn't work.  Indeed, in a surprising letter to a mother seeking to "change" her gay son, Freud advised that the effort was futile and that her son was best served by coming to acceptance of his sexual orientation.  Moreover, Freud said that homosexuality was "nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function."  All these years later, every legitimate medical and mental health association agrees with Freud's advice to this woman who, if she like many parents I have met, she was more concerned about her own embarrassment and sensibilities than the welfare of her child.   Pink News has details.  Here are excerpts:

Some assume positions on controversial issues such as gay “cure” therapies evolve over time. This letter from Sigmund Freud written in 1935 may debunk that.  The famed father of psychoanalysis gave an amazing and eloquent response to one parent’s concerns over having a gay child.

In the letter he writes that being gay ” is nothing to be ashamed of”, that it “cannot be classified as an illness” and names Plato, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci as “several of the greatest men”, who were gay.

Continuing, he considers the case of whether he could make the child into a “normal heterosexual”, but instead of “treatment”, recommends “analysis”, to “bring him harmony, peace of mind”.

Despite still contemplating the idea that gay “conversion” therapy is possible, Freud seems well on his way to deeming it dangerous, not to mention that this was published years before other similar opinions and studies on the issue.

The World Health Organisation still classed homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1990.  

The letter, originally written in 1935, was given to Alfred Kinsey, and was later reproduced in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 1951.

It is currently available to see at the Museum of Sexology exhibit on at the Wellcome Collection in London.

Here is the full text of the letter:

Dear Mrs [Erased],

I gather from your letter that your son is a homosexual. I am most impressed by the fact that you do not mention this term yourself in your information about him. May I question you why you avoid it? Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function, produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them. (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime – and a cruelty, too. If you do not believe me, read the books of Havelock Ellis.

By asking me if I can help, you mean, I suppose, if I can abolish homosexuality and make normal heterosexuality take its place. The answer is, in a general way we cannot promise to achieve it. In a certain number of cases we succeed in developing the blighted germs of heterosexual tendencies, which are present in every homosexual in the majority of cases it is no more possible. It is a question of the quality and the age of the individual. The result of treatment cannot be predicted.

What analysis can do for your son runs on a different line. If he is unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, inhibited in his social life, analysis may bring him harmony, peace of mind, full efficiency, whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed. If you make up your mind he should have analysis with me — I don’t expect you will — he has to come over to Vienna. I have no intention of leaving here. However, don’t neglect to give me your answer.

Sincerely yours with best wishes,

Freud

P.s. I did not find it difficult to read your handwriting. Hope you will not find my writing and my English a harder task.