Conversion Therapy is Fraud: N.J. Judge
Originally published at LoveLure's Luke and Reid Blog. You can comment here or there.
All right, Oakdalians, who remembers creepy Dr. Kreeger and how Damian managed to convince Lily that his camp was a place for “confused” teens? Who would like to forget Dr. Kreeger? Who wishes Dr. Kreeger and his ilk would shrivel up and go hide in a dark hole somewhere cold, dark, and unpleasant?
Well, the Dr. Kreegers of the world may not be shriveling up, but the world is one step closer to being free of “reprogramming” programs thanks to a judge in New Jersey:
In what many are calling a landmark decision, a New Jersey judge has ruled that people who, in advertising conversion-therapy services, describe homosexuality as a disorder that can be cured are committing consumer fraud. It is the first time a United States court has found that homosexuality is not a disorder….
“This ruling is monumental and devastating to the conversion-therapy industry,” said David Dinielli, Deputy Legal Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a party to the suit. “For the first time, a court has ruled that it is fraudulent as a matter of law for conversion therapists to tell clients that they have a mental disorder that can be cured. This is the principal lie the conversion-therapy industry uses throughout the country to peddle its quackery to vulnerable clients. Gay people don’t need to be cured, and we are thrilled that the court has recognized this.”
This is the latest blow to the conversion-therapy movement. In 2012, California became the first state to ban conversion therapy for anyone under 18. That law was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2013, New Jersey became the second state to pass a ban. Several other states are either working on or considering legislation to ban conversion therapy….
[Judge] Barsio’s order includes the following passages:
- “It is a misrepresentation in violation of the CFA [Consumer Fraud Act], in advertising or selling conversion-therapy services, to describe homosexuality, not as being a normal variation of human sexuality, but as being a mental illness, disease, disorder, or equivalent thereof.”
- “It is a misrepresentation in violation of the CFA, in advertising or selling conversion-therapy services, to include specific ‘success’ statistics when there is no factual basis for calculating such statistics, e.g., when client outcomes are not tracked and no records of client outcomes are maintained.”
“The judge’s determination today that it is a misrepresentation to tell consumers that homosexuality is a disorder is an important step forward in this case and also a victory for showing that conversion-therapy proponents lack any valid basis to continue to promote their abusive practices,” said James L. Bromley, a Partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, one of the plaintiffs’ co-counsels. “The harmful myth that gay people are sick or damaged belongs in the dustbin of history.”
Halleluiah!