Despite resistance from the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality and the American Association of Christian Counselors, a federal appeals court upheld New Jersey’s 2013 legal ban on practicing “Gay Conversion Therapy” on minors, reported Bloomberg earlier this month. Now Identities.Mic has reported on what the decision means for the other 48 states where the controversial “therapeutic practice” of trying to turn gay children straight is still legal.
The Court in the New Jersey case rejected a free speech defense for Gay Conversion Therapy, reported Bloomberg, and stated that the government had the right to limit “professional speech” in order to protect citizens “from harmful or ineffective professional services.”
“The news: It’s 2014, and gay conversion therapy is still a real thing — although the legal tides are slowly but surely changing,” wrote Eileen Shim in Identities.Mic. She quoted Samantha Ames, a staff attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, saying that there’s going to be “an explosion of these bills in January” aimed at ending Gay Conversion Therapy in other states. “Even if you’re not paying attention, you’re going to see another story every day about somebody else introducing a bill.”
New Jersey Ban on Gay-Conversion Therapy Upheld on Appeal (Bloomberg, September 11, 2014)
A Dangerous Anti-Gay Practice Is Still Legal in 48 States — But Not For Long (Identities.Mic, September 19, 2014)