SACRAMENTO, (Reuters) – Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill banning a controversial therapy that aims to reverse homosexuality in minors, his office announced yesterday, making California the first state to ban a practice many say is psychologically damaging.
The move marked a major victory for gay rights advocates who say so-called conversion therapy, also called reparative therapy, has no medical basis because homosexuality is not a disorder. Brown said in a short message on Twitter that he supported the bill because it “bans non-scientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide.”
The bill’s sponsor, state Senator Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, said the law was a gesture of remembrance for a man who committed suicide after undergoing the therapy.
The measure prohibits children and teens under 18 from undergoing sexual orientation change efforts. It received support from the California Psychological Association and the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, among others.
“LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) youth will now be protected from a practice that has not only been debunked as junk science, but has been proven to have drastically negative effects on their well-being,” Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said in a statement.
