California may ban gay teen 'conversion' therapy

Excerpt from "California may ban gay teen 'conversion' therapy ," Associated Press, by Hannah Dreier. March 6, 2012--A first-of-its-kind ban on a controversial form of psychotherapy aimed at making gay people straight is speeding through the California statehouse. Supporters say the legislation, which passed its final Senate committee Tuesday, is necessary because such treatments are ineffective and harmful. "This therapy can be dangerous," said the bill's author Sen. Ted Lieu. The Torrance Democrat added the treatments can "cause extreme depression and guilt" that sometimes leads to suicide. Conservative religious groups emphatically reject that view of sexual orientation therapy and say the ban would interfere with parents' rights to seek appropriate psychological care for their children. The bill would prohibit so-called reparative therapy for minors and obligate adults to sign a release form that states that the counseling is ineffectual and possibly dangerous.

Conversion therapy penetrated the national consciousness last year when former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was questioned over whether her husband's Christian counseling business provided services that attempted to change gays and lesbians. Interest in the religion-based therapy appears to have surged in recent years, sparking debates about whether sexual orientation is an immutable characteristic.

The American Psychological Association said in 2009 that mental health professionals shouldn't tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy. The American Counseling Association and American Psychiatric Association have also disavowed the therapy. The psychiatric association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders nearly 30 years ago. The practice has garnered attention in past years as teens sent by their parents to conversion therapy programs have shared their stories online. Full story can be found here.

CMDA Member and board-certified family physician Andre' Van Mol, MD: "Senator Ted Lieu’s SB1172 is the first legislative effort to ban sexual orientation-change efforts (SOCE) for those under 18 and to require adults seeking such therapy to sign 'informed consent forms.'

"Psychologist Christopher Rosik, President of National Association for Research Therapy of Homosexuality, noted that the only study cited in the bill -- Ryan, et al. (2009), 123, Pediatrics, 346-352 -- examined family rejection and not SOCE; used flawed sampling; showed recruitment bias; was limited to young adults and not youth; and the study itself cautioned against generalizing its results (p.351). The study has no legitimate place as scientific backing for the bill.¹
'Sen. Lieu erroneously claimed in a press statement, 'Sexual orientation change efforts pose critical health risks to lesbian, gay and bisexual people' up to and including depression, substance abuse and suicide. The senator also claimed there is insufficient evidence that any type of psychotherapy can change a person's sexual orientation.' Dr. Rosik replies by asking why California’s licensing agencies and mental health associations failed to issue licensure revocations or membership suspensions among therapists if SOCE was such a known hazard.

"The truth is the opposite of Sen. Lieu’s assertions. Decades of studies show positive results of SOCE for those who wish it.² Homosexual practice itself leads to loss of 25 to 40 percent of life expectancy with higher rates of infectious disease, cancers, substance abuse, depression, anxiety, multiple psychopathologies and suicide. GLBT relationships are shown to be shorter lived, more prone to abuse and not the carbon copy of heterosexuality claimed by the gay and lesbian task forces of several professional guilds so easily maneuvered by the planned political-ideological stacking of key committees.³ Simply put, gay sex is bad for people, change is possible and many want it.

"SB1172 is ideology masquerading as science and an example of the intolerance, compulsory conformity and bullying tactics by which GLBT activists makes gains, but of which they accuse their opponents."^{4 5 6}
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1) Dr. Rosik’s report is found at http://narth.com/2012/05/california-senate-bill-1172-a-scientific-and-legislative-travesty/.
2) Stanton L. Jones (January, 2012), “Sexual orientation and reason: On the implications of false beliefs about homosexuality,” digitally published at http://www.wheaton.edu/cace or http://www.wheaton.edu/CACE/Hot-Topics.
3) “Negative Health Consequences of Same Sex Sexual Behavior” by Dr. Andre Van Mol on the CMDA web site at http://www.cmda.org/WCM/CMDA/Issues2/Other1/Sexuality1/Articles_and_Commentaries13/Negative_Health_Consequences_of_Same_Sex_Sexual_Behavior_by_Dr._Andre_Van_Mol.aspx.
4) Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task comments in a 2004 edition of "Between the Lines", a Detroit area homosexual newsmagazine, to politically "punish," "terrify" and "torture" activists who oppose his organization's agenda on "gay" rights
5) Eight Straight Suicides (Prof. Mike Adams lists 8 examples)
6) Hollywood Bullies Against Bullying? (Brent Bozell notes the bullies in the anti-bullying campaigns).

CMDA Ethics Statement: Homosexuality