WASHINGTON – Gay conversion therapy holds that one can change one's sexual orientation through prayer and exercises to change homosexual behavior.
The American Psychiatric Association has condemned psychiatric treatments, essentially saying that first, homosexuality isn't a problem to be "fixed" and secondly such "therapies" simply do not work.
There's been a bit of news over the past few weeks concerning gay conversion therapies. The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center filed a fraud suit against one Jewish conversion therapy outfit, and there have been a conflicting pair of rulings out of California.
In September, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a ban that would ban the controversial therapy to reversing homosexuality in people under 18 years. That law is or was set to take effect January 1.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge William Shubb said the law could infringe upon the First Amendment rights of therapists who are opposed to homosexuality.
By the next day, a second federal judge declined to interfere with the law signed by Brown in a separate case brought by other therapists and parents. This action was appealed.
If the appeal is granted, the law will not take effect- according to the California state attorney general's office.
Host Jamila Bey spoke with Michael De Dora, director of the Office of Public Policy and the UN representative with the Center for Inquiry, and Dr. Darryl Ray, a therapist and author of "Sex & God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality," to discuss the issue.
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