A gay rights group seeks to intervene
in a federal lawsuit challenging California's law which bans 'ex-gay'
therapy to minors.
The first-in-the-nation law outlaws
therapies that attempt to alter a minor's sexual orientation from gay
to straight.
Two groups opposed to gay rights, the
National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality
(NARTH) and Liberty Counsel, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the
law and asking that the court block it from going into effect on January
1.
NARTH officials had testified against
the measure and called on Governor Jerry Brown to veto the bill.
On its website, the group claimed that
passage of the bill would “likely increase harms to minors
through its unintended consequences.” Parents, the group
explained, would be forced to seek out therapy for their children
from “unlicensed, unregulated and unaccountable religious
counselors.”
“The vast majority of anecdotal
accounts of harm to children from SOCE [Sexual Orientation Change
Efforts] seem attributable to these types of counselors and to
religiously oriented programs.”
On Friday, the National Center for
Lesbian Rights (NCLR) filed court papers seeking to intervene in the
suit on behalf of Equality California (EQCA), a co-sponsor of the
law.
“This lawsuit is a desperate attempt
by extreme anti-LGBT groups to defend the indefensible – mental
health professionals who subject young people to dangerous
practices,” said NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell in a
statement. “The plain fact is that every mainstream medical and
mental health association in the country has warned that these
practices are ineffective and deadly. The state has the right and
obligation to protect young people from this psychological abuse,
which can lead to depression, substance abuse, self-harm, and even
suicide.”
Since its passage, a
New Jersey lawmaker has introduced legislation modeled after
California's law.