Maggie Gallagher Has The EEOC Sadz

"On Friday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made a remarkably lawless decision: it unilaterally added 'sexual orientation' to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, something wholly unjustified by the text, by the history, or by the plain meaning of the statue, hijacking the civil rights movement in a profound new way. Everyone knows the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not include sexual orientation. Even the gay rights movement knows it, because they proposed adding employment discrimination by statute, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), and even adding sexual orientation to the ’64 Act. Now, unless Congress acts, every religious school, charity, and parachurch organization must hire openly gay people, or face potential backbreaking litigation. Will Kennedy overturn this ruling? Don’t count on it. Will Congress pass a law against it, clarifying the Civil Rights Act of 1964 means what it says? Don’t count on that either." - Maggie Gallagher. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

Christopher Doyle Has The JONAH Sadz

"Because of the lack of respect by Judge Bariso for JONAH’s spiritual practices, it was practically impossible for the jury to hand down a not-guilty verdict. At nearly every point before, during and after testimony was given, the judge undermined JONAH’s freedom of religion. Potential jurors who believed homosexuality is a sin were screened out; defense attorney Charles Limandri was not allowed to discuss JONAH’s 1st Amendment freedom of religious expression in his closing arguments; and Judge Bariso effectively handicapped JONAH’s ability to defend itself by cutting out the ability to argue with a synthesis of faith and science, which would have been a true reflection of their religious counseling program. In order to mount an appeal, JONAH’s attorneys, the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, will need upwards of a million dollars. This is in addition to the three million it already cost for the initial defense, and the nearly four million JONAH might have to pay for the Plaintiff’s legal costs should the guilty verdict be upheld." - Ex-gay crackpot Christopher Doyle, in a money beg posted today on BarbWire.

Maggie Gallagher Has The JONAH Sadz

"The Blaze is reporting that an independent film about same-sex attraction called 'Audacity' had generated 130,000 views for its trailer on YouTube when the trailer was abruptly pulled by YouTube in response to user complaints. YouTube has not specifically said why the trailer was pulled, but its policies include 'commercially deceptive' content as a possible reason. I have not seen the trailer in question, but it occurs to me to ask: are we seeing the first fruits of a new post-JONAH strategy by the gay rights community to shut down speech? The SPLC had announced that 70 other religious nonprofits that help people with same-sex attraction live 'nongay' lives were in its targets. But I wonder, are these the first fruits of their victory?" - Maggie Gallagher, referring to the latest anti-gay film by banana man Ray Comfort. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

BREAKING: SPLC Wins Fraud Suit Against New Jersey "Ex-Gay" Torture Group

NJ.com reports:

A New Jersey jury on Thursday found a non-profit group that provides gay-to-straight conversion therapy guilty of consumer fraud for promising clients they could overcome their sexual urges by undressing in front of other men, pummeling an effigy of their mothers, and re–enacting traumatic childhood experiences.

In the first case in the nation to put the controversial practice on trial, the jury concluded that Arthur Goldberg and Elaine Berk, the founders of Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing in Jersey City and life coach Alan Downing to whom JONAH referred patients, "engaged in unconscionable commercial practices" and misrepresented their services.

The verdict requires JONAH and Downing to refund thousands of dollars paid by former clients Michael Ferguson, Benjamin Unger, Sheldon Bruck, Chaim Levin, and parents Jo Bruck and Bella Levin for the individual and group counseling sessions and the "journey into manhood" weekends in the woods. Downing charged $60 to $100 for group and individual sessions but shared 20 percent with JONAH to help defray its administrative costs.

The SPLC says they will now seek an injunction to force JONAH from operating. They'll also seek legal fees. What a terrible, terrible month for Maggie Gallagher!

Quote Of The Day - Maggie Gallagher

"By some mysterious providence, three things happened in the past few weeks: Rachel Dolezal was outed as a white woman. Bruce Jenner was lauded as a white woman. And in a New Jersey consumer-fraud case against JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing), the Southern Poverty Law Center has spent millions to deprive any future New Jerseyans of the basic right even to try to change their sexual orientation. Together they lay down the new moral rules: Apparently, you can change your racial identity, but if you do, you are lying. You can dress up as a woman on the cover of Vanity Fair, and everyone must believe that you are in fact female. But when it comes to sexual orientation, even the attempt to change your identity or behavior must be viewed as an imposition against the laws of nature, if not nature’s God." - Maggie Gallagher, writing for the National Review. Gallagher is the head of the legal group defending "ex-gay" torture against the SPLC's  lawsuit. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

NEW JERSEY: SPLC Attorney Shreds Head Of "Ex-Gay" Group During Fraud Trial

The SPLC's fraud lawsuit against the New Jersey-based "ex-gay" group JONAH has been underway since last week. Via New Jersey Jewish News:

On the trial’s second day, the plaintiffs’ lawyer Lina Bensman pointed out that Goldberg was a disbarred attorney who in 1989 was incarcerated for six months on federal tax fraud and conspiracy charges while heading a New York underwriting firm. She asked why he had occasionally identified himself as a “doctor,” although he was not a physician and had no PhD. “I am a JD, a juris doctor,” he explained. Goldberg also acknowledged that he used the title “rabbi” on occasion, although he was not ordained. “I was not a rabbi,” he said. “I have no formal religious training other than going to a yeshiva in grade school.”

Goldberg also testified, “I have never been a licensed counselor. I give advice.” But after being shown a signed document projected on a video screen, Goldberg acknowledged he had applied to the American Psychotherapy Association to become a certified relationship specialist and a certified professional counselor. “But these certifications were revoked?” asked Bensman. “Yes, ma’am” he replied. “And the certifications read, ‘I certify I have not been convicted of a felony’?” “That is correct,” he said. Under questioning by his own attorney, Goldberg said he believed that his felony fraud and conspiracy convictions were essentially nullified more than 20 years after his guilty pleas in 1989, allowing him to check “no” on the application.

More about Goldberg from the Village Voice:

In 1987, prosecutors accused Goldberg of orchestrating a massive municipal-bond fraud scheme, essentially selling more than $2 billion in bogus bonds between 1985 and 1986 to finance public works projects in smaller, rural, and often poor communities in the Midwest. Most of the projects were never completed, and Goldberg was eventually charged with 52 counts of bribery, fraud, and conspiracy, among other things, by a federal grand jury. He later pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud in California. The scheme cost the U.S. Treasury millions in lost taxes, and Matthews & Wright Inc. lost its license to sell securities and later dissolved completely.

Goldberg, who testified before a jury on June 8, declined on several occasions to speak on the record for this article. One day at the JONAH offices in Jersey City he confronted a Voice reporter, asking her to leave the building and calling her presence "absolutely inappropriate and out of line." He would later agree to answer a few questions, through his lawyer, via email. "Over 100 people lost their jobs and a good career because of what Arthur did, and that's just pure greed," Goldberg's former colleague says. "And he never apologized to anyone. I hoped he'd get life [in prison]. If I'd run into him on the street, I'd grab him by the throat."

Hit the first link for more about the trial and the second for an excellent and lengthy history of the "ex-gay" movement. Equality Case Files is attending the trial and is posting transcripts of the proceedings. JONAH is being defended by a legal group headed by Maggie Gallagher.

UPDATE: Check out how hate group leader Austin Ruse characterizes Goldberg over at Breitbart:

All his life Arthur Goldberg was a liberal New York Jew, almost stereotypical. He fought for civil rights for African Americans, he fought for better housing for New York’s poor, the whole schmear of respectable liberal causes. And then his son came out as gay and Arthur wanted to help him. When they founded JONAH, neither Goldberg or Berk knew that choice in sexual orientation or choice in psychological counseling would become a third rail in progressive politics. Now they are the target of one of the richest and most powerful left-wing groups in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center — with $340 in the bank and revenues of $50 million a year — is a group with almost limitless money to spend on litigation and it, along with activist Wayne Besen of a group called Truth Wins Out, have spent millions to put JONAH out of business and to punish Goldberg and Berk for trying to help those with unwanted same-sex attraction.

NEW JERSEY: Jury Hears Openings In "Ex-Gay" Fraud Suit Filed by SPLC

Via the Associated Press:

The four plaintiffs sued Jersey City-based JONAH in 2012, claiming the group violated state consumer fraud laws by characterizing homosexuality as a mental disorder and claiming it could successfully change patients' sexual orientation. The plaintiffs say they underwent treatment that included being told to spend more time naked with their fathers and participating in role-playing in which they were subjected to anti-gay slurs in a locker room setting. "My clients needed help but JONAH lied and JONAH made it worse," plaintiffs' attorney David Diniello told jurors. "All they got was junk science and so-called cures."

Three of the four plaintiffs were young men from Orthodox Jewish families in Brooklyn, Diniello said, who were grappling with their sexuality in a culture in which "there were no gay people" and there was pressure to marry and have children. The fourth, Michael Ferguson, is a Mormon who sought out JONAH. Attorney Charles LiMandri, representing JONAH, said none of the four asked for their money back at the time. "All four of these men left JONAH on good terms, speaking glowingly" of their experience and referring it to friends, he said. It was only after being contacted by activists that they denounced the organization, he said. "The plaintiffs became aggressors after they left JONAH to destroy JONAH," LiMandri said.

One plaintiff reports that the "therapy" included beating a pillow with a tennis racket while screaming about his mother. (You might remember "ex-gay" nutter Richard Cohen demonstrating this on CNN.) In 2012 plaintiff Chaim Levin told Truth Wins Out that his JONAH treatment included "removing my clothing and touching myself in a locked room" while the counselor watched.

NEW JERSEY: SPLC's Fraud Suit Against "Ex-Gay" Group Begins This Week

Via the SPLC:

Jury selection is underway in the SPLC’s landmark consumer fraud case against a New Jersey provider of conversion therapy, which purports to turn gay people straight. Opening arguments in the Superior Court of New Jersey are expected to begin on either Tuesday, June 2 or Wednesday, June 3. The SPLC filed the suit – Michael Ferguson, et al., v. JONAH – in 2012 against conversion therapy provider JONAH for deceptive practices that lured plaintiffs into the expensive, harmful therapy. The case, brought under New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, is the first of its kind nationally. “This case is about exposing the lie that LGBT people are mentally ill and that they need to be cured,” said David Dinielli, SPLC deputy legal director. “Groups like JONAH should not be allowed to use bogus therapy, based on junk science, to scam LGBT people and their families out of thousands of dollars.”

More from Mic.com:

According to the complaint filed at the case's inception, customers of JONAH's services typically paid a minimum of $100 for weekly individual counseling sessions and another $60 for group therapy sessions, with some paying as much as $10,000 a year for the services. The lawsuit describes sessions in which unlicensed therapists ordered them to strip naked and touch their genitals while saying negative things about themselves in front of a mirror, group exercises involving the reenactment of childhood sexual abuse and the use of homophobic slurs while the plaintiffs tried to grab a pair of oranges meant to symbolize testicles.

"Stuck in the past": According to every mainstream mental health authority in the United States, JONAH's practices fall so far outside the mainstream as to be unethical, even dangerous. "It's unethical for counselors to be involved in reparative therapy," David Kaplan, chief professional officer and former president of the American Counseling Association, told Mic. "It's not a mental health intervention — it's a religious practice."

Kaplan is such an outspoken critic of conversion therapy that he dislikes even using the word "therapy" to describe the practice. "A lot of us refer to it as 'sexual orientation change efforts.' 'Therapy' connotes a mental health intervention. This is not a mental health intervention. A mental health intervention relates to the diagnosis and treatment of a mental disorder. Homosexuality is not a mental disorder. There's nothing to fix, there's nothing to repair, there's nothing to convert."

Former NOM chairman Maggie Gallagher heads the legal group defending JONAH. Yesterday Gallagher told CBN that "it will be fun to beat the Southern Poverty Law Center."

Maggie Gallagher: MARFAs Not RFRAs

"State RFRAs are bad vehicles for this fight, because they are broad and vague and their outcome is uncertain. It is very unlikely that a state RFRA will protect anyone from any gay equality wrath, precisely because courts uniformly view equality as a compelling interest, and because there is no way to make sure everyone gets treated equally while permitting some people to refuse to serve gay weddings. A better vehicle is some version of a Marriage and Religious Freedom Act (MARFA), which prevents governments from punishing individuals and small businesses for refusing to participate in a wedding they do not approve of. If you ask me, I would carve out an exception for race and leave it at that. The protection is narrow, but tight and clear; they can be crafted to be viewpoint neutral (meaning you can refuse Maggie’s wedding if you object to it, too). And they can be narrowed to apply to small businesses, so that the big corporations have no excuse to getting involved unless they want to be mean to the little guy." - Maggie Gallagher, writing for The Pulse. (Tipped by JMG reader CM)

Maggie Gallagher Vs Frank Bruni

"This week, Frank Bruni, fresh from asserting with approval that Mitchell Gold wants to make Christians take homosexuality off their sin list, decides to attack the Catholic Church for committing the primal sin of patriarchy. 'Catholicism Undervalues Women.' The pope is always a man! Listen, I get that growing up gay in the South was no picnic. I get that many people probably did and said mean things they should not have. But this is no longer about civility, or tolerance; it is about telling other people what their religion should be. If you do not believe in our God, Frank, of course you have a hard time understanding the holy war you are picking.

"Yes, you are a lovable human being, with rights, with feelings to be respected. We don’t have to agree to love or respect one another. So why pick on Catholics? Orthodox Jews, black Pentecostals, the LDS church, Southern Baptists, most versions of Islam, also have all-male clergies. What is it about Catholicism that inspires such rudeness in the New York Times? Oh, I know. Something to do with 2,000 years of hanging onto the teachings of Christ: We are born male and female. Our bodies have a meaning; they are not machines we occupy. Sexual desire was given to us for a purpose; we are to direct it, not let it rule us." - Maggie Gallagher, writing for the National Review.

Maggie Gallagher: Dear Justice Kennedy

"Dear Justice Kennedy: Government cannot confer dignity on our relationships. My best friends, my adult children, my godchildren, my brothers and sisters, every single intimate relationship that I have and that gives meaning to my life, government has no role there. To imagine that a government stamp of approval is what creates value in human relationships, or gives dignity to our sexual lives, is to accord to government a power it does not have: a power to impose an idea of equality that is not true, and to remove from the American people the hard work — of negotiating, compromise, and dealing with one another — that belongs to the democratic process, not the Constitution. Justice Kennedy, you’ve surprised us before. Do it one more time. If originalism doesn’t move you, perhaps an honest plea for pluralism from the newly stigmatized might?" - Maggie Gallagher, concluding an open letter to Justice Kennedy for the National Review.

Maggie Goes Gaga For Bobby Jindal

"Kudos, kudos, kudos to Jindal. Who else will step up to the plate? It is only the question of whether the Judeo-Christian ethic in America will be tolerated or whether government will be used to punish and strip the livelihoods of people who cannot in conscience serve a particular marriage. Nationally, the pledge would be to fight for the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act. Who, besides me, will follow where Jindal leads? Please share this post with as many people as you can." Former NOM chairbigot Maggie Gallagher, praising today's NYT op-ed by Bobby Jindal.

Maggie Gallagher: Christians Must Be Prepared To Rebuild A Ruined Civilization

Maggie Gallagher: I Can't Support Sin By Attending A Same-Sex Wedding

In response to recent gay wedding questions posed to Sen. Marco Rubio and other GOP candidates, Maggie Gallagher has penned an open letter to a gay friend which we're sure totally exists. Via the National Review:

The problem for me in celebrating your gay wedding, as much as I love you, is that I would be witnessing and celebrating your attempt not only to commit yourself to a relationship that keeps you from God’s plan but, worse, I would be witnessing and celebrating your attempt to hold the man you love to a vow that he will avoid God’s plan. To vow oneself to sin is one thing, to try to hold someone you love to it — that’s not something I can celebrate. And I would be party to the idea that two men can make a marriage, which I do not believe. On your happy day you should be surrounded by people who can honor your vow and help you keep it. I can’t do that. 'Porneia' is a word in the Bible that has been much mistranslated. But I think it means a sexual relationship that cannot by its nature become a marriage. That’s why Christ said that marriage is forever, unless it is porneia. I understand that you might well want to rupture our friendship over this, my honest view. I choose to love you both and keep you in my life. But let us somehow against all odds find a way to love each other as we are, and not how each of us would wish the other to be.

From Wikipedia: "The Greek term porneia (πορνεία) which means 'illicit sexual intercourse' was translated as 'fornication' in the 1611 King James Version of the bible and has also been translated as 'whoredom'."

Maggie Gallagher Begs GOP Presidential Candidates To Speak Out On Indiana

"Something very important is happening right now in Indiana. Pay attention: The Democrats are attempting to use their power in the mainstream media to get Republicans to retreat and mute the GOP on religious liberty or face being labelled anti-gay. Last year, the Left succeeded so well with this tactic on a similar RFRA bill in Arizona, they even got Mitt Romney and John McCain to denounce the bill. [snip] But this is a seminal moment for GOP presidential candidates: Will they have the courage to speak truth to power and support protections for religious people from government punishment? Or will they bow to the mainstream media narrative and commit the cardinal sin of declaring unilateral truce? Speak now, Bush, Walker, Paul, Rubio, Carson, Huckabee, Jindal, etc., because the future of religious liberty in America will depend in part on whether there is at least one political party willing to defend it. Courage is not optional." - Maggie Gallagher, writing for her new site, The Pulse. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

Gallagher is totally right about the importance of Indiana. The way this battle shakes out will surely lay the groundwork for for the next stage of our movement in a post-marriage equality nation.

Maggie Gallagher Turns On Ben Carson

"Apparently the pounding from CNN led Dr. Carson not only to apologize but say he supports the right of states to choose gay marriage: 'I support the right of individual states to sanction gay marriage, and I support the right of individual states to deny gay marriage in their respective jurisdictions.' Only Dr. Carson knows why he chose to apologize. But this is a significant concession on his part substantively on marriage. But it is also true the Christian Right has not yet settled on a realistic legislative objective it wants candidates to support. Nor has it invested in building substantive political organizations to fight for these legislative objectives on marriage. We are witnessing the results of years of failed models of orthodox Christians engaging in politics, as well as not a single Christian billionaire who is investing, as the Koch brothers have done, in building an intellectual/cultural powerhouse like the Cato Institute." - Maggie Gallagher, in a sideways slam at NOM, which she once headed. (Via Good As You)

Court Rules "Ex-Gay" Groups Can't Claim That Homosexuality Is A Disorder

The Southern Poverty Law Center has won a landmark battle in its consumer fraud lawsuit against the New Jersey-based "ex-gay" group JONAH.

A New Jersey Superior Court judge has ruled misrepresenting homosexuality as a disorder in marketing conversion therapy services violates the state’s consumer protection laws – a devastating ruling for the conversion therapy industry, which claims to “convert” people from gay to straight, the Southern Poverty Law Center announced today. The ruling marks the first time a court in the United States has found that homosexuality is not a disease or a disorder and that it is fraudulent for conversion therapists to make such a claim. Superior Court Judge Peter F. Barsio Jr. found that it “is a misrepresentation in violation of [New Jersey’s 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.” The ruling is part of the consumer fraud lawsuit filed by the SPLC against Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), a New Jersey-based conversion therapy provider. The suit claims the group used deceptive practices to lure plaintiffs into their costly services for gay-to-straight therapy that can cost in excess of $10,000 a year.

Last week the same court ruled that JONAH could not call "ex-gay experts" as witnesses as their testimony would be mere "incestuous validation" of each others' research. Hit the first link and read much more about today's win. See the full ruling here. Maggie Gallagher is the chairperson of the legal group defending JONAH.

Catholic & Evangelical Leaders Unite In Statement Against Same-Sex Marriage

Via the National Catholic Register:

A coalition of Catholic and Protestant leaders has united to call all Christians to an unwavering defense of the truth of marriage, rooted in nature as well as faith. "We affirm strongly and without qualification, following the clear testimony of holy Scripture, that marriage is a unique and privileged sign of the union of Christ with his people and of God with his creation — and it can only serve as that sign when a man and a woman are solemnly joined together in a permanent union,” reads a joint statement between Catholic and Protestant leaders. “If we are to remain faithful to the Scriptures and to the unanimous testimony of Christian Tradition, there can be no compromise on marriage.” Nearly 20 Catholics and evangelical Protestants signed the statement, “The Two Shall Become One Flesh: Reclaiming Marriage.” Signatories represent the ecumenical coalition Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT), which is an initiative of the Institute on Religion and Public Life. The statement will debut in the March issue of First Things magazine.

More from Catholic Crux:

Signers of the statement include popular megachurch pastor Rick Warren and longtime gay marriage foe Maggie Gallagher, as well as prominent conservative Catholic intellectuals George Weigel and Robert George. Timothy George, a Southern Baptist and dean of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School; Mark Galli, editor of the evangelical magazine Christianity Today; and J.I. Packer of Regent University also endorsed the statement. The signers say they “do not dispute the evident fact of hormonal and chromosomal irregularities, nor of different sexual attractions and desires.” But they say that in legitimating same-sex marriage, “a kind of alchemy is performed, not merely on the institution, but on human nature itself.” “We are today urged to embrace an abstract conception of human nature that ignores the reality of our bodies. Human beings are no longer to be understood as either male or female,” it says. The result, it says, will undermine society by eliminating any moral compass except that which the state declares to be the norm, to the exclusion of all others.

More from Religion News Service:

"The Two Shall Become One Flesh: Reclaiming Marriage,” comes from the group Evangelicals and Catholics Together, a coalition formed in 1994 under the aegis of former Nixon aide Charles Colson, an evangelical, and the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic priest. One of their goals was to encourage the two Christian communities to overcome their historical suspicions and doctrinal differences in order to battle what they saw as a growing moral laxity in the U.S. Discussions on a document on same-sex marriage began in June 2013 — the same month the U.S. Supreme Court required the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages — according to Russell Reno, editor of First Things and a member of ECT; Reno provided a copy of the declaration to RNS. But Reno said the members first had to agree to set aside their differences on the legitimacy of divorce and contraception, for example, and even whether marriage is a sacrament.

Maggie: Only God Can Stop The Gays

"Nothing is inevitable. ‘Inevitability’ is the progressive substitute for the idea of Divine Providence. Either God is in charge, or the future hasn't yet happened and is freely determined. Or God leaves us free." - Former NOM president Maggie Gallagher, speaking yesterday to the Daily Beast.  Asked if anti-gay groups have any hopes of winning in 2015, Gallagher said "I suspect the focus is going to be on 2016 and that social conservatives are going to struggle between choosing a champion and choosing a conventional 'winner'."

An "Ex-Gay" At Vatican Marriage Meeting

Jeremy Hooper writes at Good As You:

Here's the scene at Day Two, where participants (including Maggie Gallagher, Brian Brown, Tony Perkins, Ryan T. Anderson and a whole host of anti-gay political activists) were greeted with a video that claims sexual orientation is nothing more than a political construct, followed by a lengthy clip of a gay man insisting that celibacy is the only option.

Start at 8:45. Click the gear symbol for subtitles.