Gay ‘Conversion Therapy’ Faces Test in Courts

[presence]

Gay “conversion therapy,” which claims to help men overcome unwanted same-sex attractions but has been widely attacked as unscientific and harmful, is facing its first tests in the courtroom.

“I was encouraged to develop anger and rage toward my parents. The notion that your parents caused this is a horrible lie.”

In New Jersey on Tuesday, four gay men who tried the therapy filed a civil suit against a prominent counseling group, charging it with deceptive practices under the state’s Consumer Fraud Act.

The former clients said they were emotionally scarred by false promises of inner transformation and humiliating techniques that included stripping naked in front of the counselor and beating effigies of their mothers. They paid thousands of dollars in fees over time, they said, only to be told that the lack of change in their sexual feelings was their own fault.

In California, so-called ex-gay therapists have gone to court to argue for the other side. They are seeking to block a new state law, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September and celebrated as a milestone by advocates for gay rights, that bans conversion therapy for minors.
In Sacramento on Friday, a federal judge will hear the first of two legal challenges brought by conservative law groups claiming that the ban is an unconstitutional infringement on speech, religion and privacy.

Since the 1970s, when mainstream mental health (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/mentalhealthanddisorders/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) associations stopped branding homosexuality as a disorder, a small network of renegade therapists, conservative religious leaders and self-identified “life coaches” has continued to argue that it is not inborn, but an aberration rooted in childhood trauma. Homosexuality is caused, these therapists say, by a stifling of normal masculine development, often by distant fathers and overbearing mothers or by early sexual abuse.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/us/gay-conversion-therapy-faces-tests-in-courts.html?_r=1&

[PaulConventionWV]

Now they're going to outlaw consentual practices. That's just great. Not only are we destroying marriage with government licenses and subsidation, but now they're explicitly telling us that, if you're gay, you can't get help. Just accept it, even if you don't want to.

That said, this was a terrible practice to bring to court for this purpose. I think they will be found guilty because, honestly, that place just sounds like a real rip-off. There is no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate conversion therapy, just make a rule that all gays should simply stay that way. It's ridiculous, but I can't help but think some law will be passed because of this specific practice's fraud. It's a total rip-off to the people that did attend, but we really don't need another law to accompany this. Are all you gay rights activists happy now that we're outlawing the consentual seeking of help for gay people? Why must we force gays to be gay? Have voluntary transactions lost their legitimacy?

[jmdrake]

Whoever decided to return Jerry Brown to the governor's mansion needs serious mental help.

[Chrysamere]

Are all you gay rights activists happy now that we're outlawing the consentual seeking of help for gay people? Why must we force gays to be gay? Have voluntary transactions lost their legitimacy?

Except it's not help for gay people, it's christian fascists harming other people, the usual.

Doubt outlawing rednecks trying to pretend they can cure something you can't cure and wasn't a disease in the first place would help much though, even though it's common knowledge conversion therapy has never worked and always harms whoever goes through it

[erowe1]

Except it's not help for gay people, it's christian fascists harming other people, the usual.

Doubt outlawing rednecks trying to pretend they can cure something you can't cure and wasn't a disease in the first place would help much though, even though it's common knowledge conversion therapy has never worked and always harms whoever goes through it

How does it harm them?

[presence]

How does it harm them?

Sticks and stones?

[TonySutton]

How does it harm them?

From the linked article in the OP


But leading scientific and medical groups say that the theories of sexuality are unfounded and that there is no evidence that core sexual urges can be changed. They also warn that the therapy can, in the words of the American Psychiatric Association, cause “depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior” and “reinforce self-hatred already experienced by the patient.”

They also took their money without providing the expected results.

[jmdrake]

Except it's not help for gay people, it's christian fascists harming other people, the usual.

Doubt outlawing rednecks trying to pretend they can cure something you can't cure and wasn't a disease in the first place would help much though, even though it's common knowledge conversion therapy has never worked and always harms whoever goes through it

http://www.jimhopper.com/male-ab/
Potential Long-Term Effects of the Sexual Abuse of Males

This section lists potential, but not inevitable, lasting effects of the sexual abuse of male children. It should not be read as a "laundry list" of problems and symptoms that necessarily follow the sexual abuse of males, nor does the presence of any in males with sexual abuse histories necessarily mean the abuse is their primary cause. (See above.)

Findings on the long-term effects of child sexual abuse in males have been more consistent than those on prevalence. Methodologies for detecting problems and symptoms that could be outcomes are relatively straightforward, and many studies have utilized standardized measures that are widely accepted in the field.

First, I want to recommend a paper by David Lisak, Ph.D. This paper contains many powerful quotations from interviews with male survivors of sexual abuse. Lisak groups the quotations into themes, and discusses them with remarkable insight and compassion. The themes are:

Anger
Fear
Homosexuality Issues
Helplessness
Isolation and Alienation
Legitimacy
Loss
Masculinity Issues
Negative Childhood Peer Relations
Negative Schemas about People
Negative Schemas about the Self
Problems with Sexuality
Self Blame/Guilt
Shame/Humiliation

And no, I'm not saying that every gay male was molested as a boy. But if that is an issue that does surface among male rape victims, and it is, then someone offering therapy to help them get over that isn't doing anything worse than someone offering therapy to help someone get over any other possible result of abuse.

[jmdrake]

From the linked article in the OP



They also took their money without providing the expected results.

So in other words college should be banned as well.

[PaulConventionWV]

Except it's not help for gay people, it's christian fascists harming other people, the usual.

Doubt outlawing rednecks trying to pretend they can cure something you can't cure and wasn't a disease in the first place would help much though, even though it's common knowledge conversion therapy has never worked and always harms whoever goes through it

It's voluntary, so how can you say it's any form of fascism? Gay people actually seek these places out from time to time, so who are you to say they can't get help if they want it?

Also, your common knowledge is really just your own bias. Many gay people have claimed success, but people like you automatically write it off as gay people trying to fool themselves. Who are you to say that you can't stop being gay? Whether it's a disease or not, people should be able to seek therapy for it if they actually feel like it's something they want to do. Not everyone believes being gay is normal, and that's a subjective determination anyway, so stop trying to act like those don't think it's normal are automatically wrong because it's just as legitimate as your belief that there's nothing wrong with it.

[dannno]

The former clients said they were emotionally scarred by false promises of inner transformation and humiliating techniques that included stripping naked in front of the counselor and beating effigies of their mothers. They paid thousands of dollars in fees over time, they said, only to be told that the lack of change in their sexual feelings was their own fault.

Wow, I wonder how many of these techniques Bachdoorman uses?