New Jersey’s ban on ex-gay therapy is a victory over religious nuts

[xchrom]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/21/ew-jerseys-ban-on-ex-gay-therapy-is-a-victory-over-religious-nuts/



As of this week, gay conversation therapy is outlawed in the state of New Jersey. Kids who are either gay or suspected of being gay cannot be forced by their parents to endure homophobic corrective therapy, which assemblyman and bill sponsor Tim Eustice correctly calls “an insidious form of child abuse”.

Not only does conversion therapy fail to actually “convert” gay kids into straight ones, but, according to the American Psychological Association (which disavows the practice), it often leaves lasting scars, leading to mental health issues and substance abuse. California is the only other state in the nation that has attempted to ban conversion therapy, but that ban is caught up in ongoing legal battles.

Conversion therapists argue that their practice helps young people who are struggling with their sexuality, and that choosing the therapy is a First Amendment issue. Outlawing conversion therapy, they say, is one step on the “slippery slope of government infringing upon the First Amendment rights of counselors to provide, and patients to receive, counseling consistent with their religious beliefs”.

Religious freedom is a constitutional right. But it’s not the only one. Too often, the religious “freedom” of a parent comes at the expense of their children’s basic human rights and rights to equal protection under the law. Kids are not simply extensions of their parents. They are individual people, and while they should be guided and directed and for the most part under the legal authority of their parents, their own rights to personal safety, health care and freedom from abuse should not be subsumed in some bizarro-world version of religious liberty.

[idwiyo]

1. K&R

[HockeyMom]

2. Years ago

they used to try to cure children of being left handed. It was found that it really screwed up their brains. For what? So everybody can all be the same? I can only imagine how much worse trying to "cure" gayness would be. Again, why? Accept that people are people no matter whether they are left handed, or gay. No cure is needed for either.

[RKP5637]

3. K&R! n/t

[ZombieHorde]

4. This "therapy" should be a hate crime. nt

[nomorenomore08]

5. Certainly when applied to minors... n/t

[JackBeck]

6. Tim Eustace deserves a lot of credit for making this happen.

We learned a lot from California's mistakes and made the bill stronger and less likely for any lawsuits to be taken seriously, regardless of what the Liberty Council thinks it will accomplish.