The head of a California legal group laments the passage of a bill that bans youths from receiving conversion therapy for gender confusion - and says it has taken action against the controversial measure.
On Saturday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that bans "gay"-to-straight therapy for minors in the state. Under the law, which takes effect January 1, minors cannot receive the conversion counseling, and adults will be required to give written consent for sexual-orientation therapy.
In signing the bill, Brown stated that the conversion practices "have no basis in science or medicine and ... will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery." Senator Ted Lieu, who proposed SB 1172, said the therapy does not work because it is based on "junk science."
But Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, argues that enactment of SB 1172 victimizes many children a second time.
"The sad truth is that many young people who are struggling with same-sex attraction do so partially because they were victimized sexually as a child," observes the attorney. "Well, here we have these people who already have been victimized once -- [and] this legislation, this new law, victimizes them twice by denying them the ability to get the counseling that they, their parents, and a licensed counselor feels is necessary."
PJI has taken legal action against SB 1172, which it describes as an "unconstitutional restriction on the First Amendment, privacy, and parental rights."
"We ... are taking this very seriously and have filed a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality," explains Dacus. "And [we] are hopeful that [our action] will in fact restore these rights that have been so egregiously infringed upon by the governor signing this new bill into law."
PJI is seeking an injunction to block the law from taking effect in January. The California legal group has been battling the bill ever since its inception earlier this year.
Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver tells Associated Press that another lawsuit will be filed this week on behalf of therapists who try to help clients change their sexual orientation or reduce same-sex attraction, parents who seek such therapy for their children, and teens who currently are undergoing it.
"This is an unprecedented law which literally will force minors and their parents to stop receiving counseling that is helping to resolve their internal conflicts," he explains. "It also is unprecedented because it says to counselors that they can only counsel on one viewpoint of this subject matter."
Senator Lieu says teens who believe same-sex attraction is immoral can receive unlicensed help, pointing out the new law applies only to licensed therapists - not to ministers or lay people engaged in such counseling. But Staver argues that professional therapy should be available for young people seeking to reconcile their religious beliefs and same-sex attractions.
"A Christian who believes one way regarding human sexuality but is having same-sex attractions - and that results in internal conflict - that person ultimately needs to be able to seek a Christian counselor," emphasizes the attorney.
SB 1172, which is opposed by the California Psychiatric Association and other medical groups, is the first of its kind in the nation. It is backed by a handful of homosexual-rights groups such as Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.