SCOTUS Rejects Liberty Counsel's Appeal Of New Jersey's "Ex-Gay" Torture Ban

Via Yahoo News:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left intact New Jersey's ban on counseling intended to change the sexual orientation of gay children. The court declined to hear a challenge to the law, meaning that a September ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the ban is the final word on the matter. The appeals court said the ban, which Republican Governor Chris Christie signed into law in August 2013, did not violate the free speech or religious rights of counselors offering "gay conversion therapy" to convert homosexual minors into heterosexuals. The panel also said the plaintiffs, who included licensed therapists and a Christian counseling group, lacked standing to pursue claims on behalf of their minor clients.

This is the sixth consecutive "ex-gay" loss for the Liberty Counsel. (Tipped by JMG reader Tristam)

Inside An "Ex-Gay" Torture Camp

Vice reports:

Regardless of a nationwide battle toward the acceptance of same­-sex marriage and equal rights for gay people, conversion therapy is still a problem, and it's being practiced every single day in the United States and throughout the world.

In this special report, VICE gets exclusive access to one of the hundreds of gay-conversion-therapy organizations, groups, and sessions in the United States. At the Journey into Manhood program, men pay more than $600 to attend a weekend retreat where they participate in exercises and activities the staff members claim will help them battle their same-sex ­orientation. The only qualification to become a staff member is to have successfully completed the program.

The report meets with the founder of reparative therapy, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, who is illegally practicing on minors in the State of California, and investigates the controversial legal battle to fight conversion therapy for individuals under 18 years of age. We also travel to the annual Gay Christian Network Conference, speak with former "ex-gay" leaders including John Smid of Love in Action, who is now married to his gay partner, and hear the grueling stories of the individuals who have survived this brutal practice.

Below is the trailer for their report. Click over and watch the first full installment of their video report.

(Tipped by JMG reader Claudio)

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.

NEW JERSEY: Judge Bars Key "Ex-Gay" Witnesses From SPLC Case Against JONAH

The Southern Poverty Law Center won a key victory yesterday in their consumer fraud suit against New Jersey-based JONAH, Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality. From the SPLC:

Superior Court Judge Peter F. Bariso Jr. excluded Joseph Nicolosi [PHOTO], Christopher Doyle, Dr. James Phelan and Dr. John Diggs as witnesses for the defense, holding that their opinions are based on the false premise that homosexuality is a disorder. Bariso wrote that “the theory that homosexuality is a disorder is not novel but – like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it – instead is outdated and refuted.” In New Jersey, scientific expert opinions must be based on premises and methodology generally accepted within the relevant professional field. Trial in the lawsuit against the New Jersey-based Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) is scheduled to begin in the early summer of 2015. The judge’s ruling shows that much of the JONAH experts’ planned testimony is irrelevant.

Nicolosi is the founder of NARTH. Equality Case Files provides some quotes from the judge's ruling:

"The overwhelming weight of scientific authority concludes that homosexuality is not a disorder or abnormal. The universal acceptance of that scientific conclusion -- save for outliers such as JONAH -- requires that any expert opinions to the contrary must be barred."

"[T]he theory that homosexuality is a disorder is not novel but -- like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it -- instead is outdated and refuted. Homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder in the DSM until its removal in 1973. Although the DSM has added newly recognized disorders as a result of evolving understandings of the medical field, this case presents the opposite situation: the APA removed homosexuality from the DSM upon concluding that it was not a disorder. JONAH has not identified any case that provides a standard for the admission of obsolete and discredited scientific theories. By definition, such theories are unreliable and can offer no assistance to the jury, but rather present only confusion and prejudice."

"The existence of a minority of conversion therapy proponents does not and cannot negate the fact that the DSM and its exclusion of homosexuality are generally accepted in the mental health field. Furthermore, a group of a few closely associated experts cannot incestuously validate one another as a means of establishing the reliability of their shared theories."

BOOM. Maggie Gallagher is the chairperson of the legal group defending JONAH.

Dallas Gets "Ex-Gay" Billboard

"Ex-gay" crackpot David Pickup (real name!) has posted the above billboard in the Dallas area. Zack Ford reports at Think Progress:

ThinkProgress spoke with Terry Kafka, president of Impact Outdoor Advertising, the small Dallas billboard company that is hosting the ad. Kafka explained that they had been convinced the ad was for couples therapy, having never heard the term “reparative therapy” before. He described the true content of the ad as “repulsive to me personally,” promising that the ad would be coming down by next week at the latest. “If we had known, we wouldn’t have put it up in the first place.” A billboard ad promoting ex-gay therapy similarly caused controversy in Virginia last month. That ad, posted by the ex-gay organization PFOX, asserted, “We believe twins research studies show nobody is born gay,” featuring two different pictures of the same model, who is not only not a twin but is also openly gay. Though Lamar, a national billboard company, agreed to keep that ad in place, Kafka promised, “There’s no way you’d ever see one of those on our billboards.”

RELATED: Last year SCOTUS rejected the Liberty Counsel's attempt to repeal California's ban on "ex-gay" torture in an appeal filed on the behalf of Pickup and NARTH. In years past Pickup has run a degayifying program called The WorkOUT in which he urges participants to "go deep into their manhood." Ahem.

Pete Coors Drops Out Of Anti-Gay Summit

MillerCoors chairman and 2004 Senate candidate Pete Coors has withdrawn from his speaking gig at the annual convention of Legatus, the anti-gay Catholic group that supports NARTH and "ex-gay" torture. Today's news follows the withdrawal of actor Gary Sinese and Fox News anchor Bret Baier. As always, major props to our own relentless Str8Grandmother for her social media campaign against the event. I'll update this post if MillerCoors issued a more formal statement.

Merry Christmas From NARTH

If there's a message here, I'm not getting it.

(Tipped by JMG reader Jay)

NEW JERSEY: Liberty Counsel Appeals "Ex-Gay" Torture Ban To SCOTUS

After losing twice before the Ninth Circuit Court, in late June the Liberty Counsel was smacked down by SCOTUS in their attempt to overturn California's ban on "ex-gay" torture. But they are trying again, this time in New Jersey. Via press release:

Today Liberty Counsel filed its Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in King v. Christie, Liberty Counsel’s case on behalf of licensed mental health professionals who are providing, and families who are receiving, counseling to overcome their unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or identity. The Third Circuit upheld New Jersey’s ban on change counseling, but its discussion of the law created a circuit split on the issue of the appropriate level of scrutiny applied to regulations of professional speech and also on the issue of whether counseling in this area constitutes speech at all. Liberty Counsel is asking the High Court to resolve those critical questions on the rights of licensed professionals. “If counseling regarding change is banned today in New Jersey, tomorrow a different legislature with an opposite political agenda could ban affirmation and allow only counsel regarding change,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “The state thwarts self-determination when it interferes with the counselor-client or doctor-patient relationship,” Staver concluded.

As in their losing California appeal, the New Jersey appeal was filed on behalf of NARTH. Read today's filing.

RELATED: This week the Washington DC City Council voted unanimously to ban "ex-gay" torture.

NEW JERSEY: Third Circuit Court Upholds Ban On "Ex-Gay" Torture Of LGBT Youth

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld New Jersey's ban on the "ex-gay" torture of LGBT youth. A similar ban was recently upheld in California. This is yet another loss for NARTH, the Liberty Counsel, and Alliance Defending Freedom.

Headline Of The Day

Remember NARTH's boob lady? Turns out she had no idea.

"Ex-Gay" Group NARTH Rebrands

Several years ago the co-founder of the vicious "ex-gay" outfit NARTH was busted in the Miami airport as he returned from a ten-day European vacation with the young Latino hooker he'd hired for the trip. This week they have a new name. Via Truth Wins Out:

Truth Wins Out warned mental health professionals today not to be fooled by the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality’s (NARTH) cynical rebranding effort. The group, infamous for its failed efforts to “cure” LGBT people, has launched a new website and renamed itself the NARTH Institute, which serves as a division of the brand new Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI). Besieged on several fronts, the embattled “ex-gay” organization’s new direction is an effort to confront mounting legal and legislative challenges. Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, (JONAH) an organization run by former NARTH board member and convicted felon, Arthur Abba Goldberg, is being sued by the Sothern Poverty Law Center for consumer fraud. A therapist affiliated with JONAH, Alan Downing, allegedly made his clients undress and fondle themselves in front of a mirror. This behavior echoes that of another prominent NARTH therapist, Christopher Austin, who was convicted for inappropriate behavior with his clients.

Here's their launch video.

WASHINGTON: Peter Sprigg Testifies Against Proposed "Ex-Gay" Torture Ban

"At the heart of the attacks on sexual reorientation therapy are two claims-- that such therapies are ineffective, and that they are harmful. However, there is abundant anecdotal evidence that such therapies work -- that is, people who say that they were helped by such therapies to change from predominantly homosexual to predominantly heterosexual. There is also scientific evidence. The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality has cited ‘600 reports of clinicians, researchers, and former clients -- primarily from professional and peer-reviewed scientific journals’ which show that 'reorientation treatment has been helpful to many.' The American Psychological Association (APA), under the sway of a small but influential pro-homosexual lobby, has criticized and discouraged (but never banned) reorientation therapy. Yet even the APA acknowledges that ‘participants reporting beneficial effects in some studies perceived changes to their sexuality, such as in their sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual behavior, [and/or] sexual orientation identity." - Family Research Council vice president Peter Sprigg, testifying before the Washington DC City Council Committee on Health.

Anderson Cooper Confronts Texas State Rep Over GOP "Ex-Gay" Party Plank

Cooper does a great job. Watch this.

(Via Raw Story)

TEXAS: "Ex-Gay" Plank Was Proposed By Man "Cured" With The Help Of NARTH

Lone Star Q reports that the "ex-gay" plank inserted in into the Texas GOP party platform last week was proposed by a local man who renounced his homosexuality with the help of NARTH.

His name is Jeremy Joel, according to his Facebook page, and he’s the founder of an ex-gay ministry called Joel 2:25 International. Joel, who lives in Dallas, isn’t using his full name in media interviews — due to fear of retaliation, according to KRLD — but it’s readily available online. Joel tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Bud Kennedy that the GOP platform amendment he initially proposed to Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum, is being distorted by the media. In a post on his “My Journey” blog on Tuesday, he explains further. “There are many of us who experience Same-Sex Attraction, but do NOT want to embrace the modern ‘Gay’ label and have moral beliefs that mean Gay Relationships are NOT an option for us at all,” Joel writes. Joel goes on to argue that reparative therapy is not harmful and can be effective — despite the conclusions of the American Psychological Association.

Joel claims that NARTH founder Joseph Nicolosi referred him to the infamous Journey Into Manhood retreat, where he reduced his attraction to men by 50% in just one weekend. Uh huh. Here's how straight reporter Ted Cox reported the "touch therapy" at his undercover visit to Journey Into Manhood:

At one point, the staff members all sang out in unison, their voices filling the high walls of the camp lodge. Somewhere in the room, a man sobbed over the sound of the music. It was the first night of “Journey into Manhood,” a 48-hour weekend retreat designed to help gay men become straight. In that room, about fifty men — some thirty “Journeyers” and fifteen staff members — sat on the carpeted floor of a ranch lodge two hours outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the men, except for a few of the staff members, struggled to overcome their attraction to other men. Sometime during all that holding and touching and singing, while I was cradled in the Motorcycle position, I felt it: the unmistakable bulge pressing through his tight jeans. It was the first time in my life I had a felt another man’s erection.

Jeremy Joel's website is here.

NOM Cheers Author Who Says That Gay People Are Worse Than Murderers

"After the person murders someone or looks at pornography, they come to see that what they did was actually wrong, they can’t excuse it and moral order is restored and they’re contrite for having done so. But what if you organize your life around something that is wrong? Then you must construct a more permanent rationalization that prevents your conscience from returning to tell you that you’ve just done something profoundly wrong. This is exactly the case with active homosexuals, now extended to homosexual marriage, where they have to say that wrong is right and not only is it right but it’s normative, morally normative, so we need to teach it, we need to bless it in marriages, we need to ordain it in churches and we need to enforce it in our laws. And that is what is happening." - Robert R. Reilly, former assistant to Ronald Reagan, speaking about his latest book Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything.

NOM Chairman John Eastman: "Reilly has drawn on his extensive knowledge of classical political philosophy to explain the full scope of the dangers inherent in the modern homosexual rights movement. The movement threatens our very understanding of human nature, and hence of the American political regime that derives its understanding of rights and legitimate government from that nature. This book is a stark warning that should be read by every lover of liberty, and a call to action for those who would preserve it."

C-FAM head Austin Ruse: "This book is magnificent, a real achievement. For anyone interested in taking our country back from the sexual radicals, you must know how they did it, so rapidly, efficiently, even brutally. The gay rights movement slid through American institutions, both public and private, like a hot knife through butter."

NARTH Founder Joseph Nicolosi: "If you read only one book on homosexuality, natural law theory, and the radical changes now being instituted within our culture, let it be this one! Reilly exposes the unscientific reasons why homosexuality was normalized in the [American Psychiatric Association] diagnostic manual. He offers us some intriguing new material. In a clear, systematic, and engaging style, Reilly show us the inherent futility of same-sex acts, and eloquently explains what marriage really is. This book should be required reading for anyone who writes our laws in fact, for anyone with cultural decision-making power. We must not allow the surging political tides to obscure what you and I 'can't not know' about the nature and purpose of sexuality."

HomoQuotable - John Paulk

"It’s funny, for those of us that worked in it, behind closed doors, we knew we hadn't really changed. Our situations had changed - we had gotten married, and some of us had children, so our roles had changed. I was a husband and father; that was my identity. And the homosexuality had been tamped down. But you can only push it down for so long, and it would eke its way out every so often. I went to a gay bar - not looking for sex, which is what people thought - but because I was missing my community. I was looking to sit in a place with people I felt comfortable with, and that was other gay people.

"I would be in hotel rooms, and I would be on my face sobbing and crying on the bed. I felt like a liar and a hypocrite. Having to go out and give hope to these people. I was in despair knowing that what I was telling them was not entirely honest. I couldn’t do it anymore. For 25 years I felt guilty and filled with self-loathing, trying to reject this part about myself. I’m culpable - I spread the message that my sexuality had changed, and I used my marriage as proof of that." - Former "ex-gay" poster boy John Paulk, quoted in a Newsweek article about the movement he once led.

RECOMMENDED: Read the full story.

Liberty Counsel Files Anti-Marriage Briefs With Tenth Circuit Court Of Appeals

The Liberty Counsel has filed two amicus briefs with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of  Oklahoma and Utah's defense of their bans on same-sex marriage. Their Oklahoma brief was filed on the behalf of NARTH, the crackpot "ex-gay" group whose co-founder was busted in the Miami airport with a young male prostitute as they returned from a ten-day European vacation. Their Utah brief contains several citations of the work of discredited researcher Mark Regurus and makes the argument that legalizing gay marriage is exactly like banning interracial marriages. Seriously.

"Ex-Gay" Group: If You Hook Up At Our Convention You Totally Don't Get A Refund

The Restored Hope Network, which arose from the ashes of Exodus International, will hold its annual convention in Portland, Oregon during the last weekend in June just in case anybody was planning on attending gay pride. And should you totally by accident find your mouth on a cock during your late night wanderings around the host hotel? No refund! From the convention code of conduct:

Restored Hope Network requires that all participants at the Restoring Hope Conference adhere to standards of conduct in keeping with Christian professional standards. This includes abstaining from all forms of immoral behavior. Disruption of the conference in any form is not acceptable, including but not limited to: interrupting conference presenters or activities; distributing literature, materials, or audio or video recording at the conference that have not been pre-approved by Restored Hope Network Board of Directors; campaigning for alternative religions, philosophical or political views; on-site demonstrations; seeking sexual contacts; harassing others; using alcohol or narcotics; or sharing registration with other persons. Persons asked to leave for violation of the Code of Conduct will not be eligible for refunds.

RELATED: Today's notice comes from Anne Paulk, the ex-wife of former "ex-gay" poster boy John Paulk, who last June apologized for his time with the "ex-gay" industry and denounced the work now being carried on by the still-totally-lesbian Anne.  Scheduled to speak at the event is NARTH co-founder Joseph Nicolosi, who presumably won't mention the other NARTH co-founder who was caught in the Miami airport returning from vacation with a lithe young male prostitute.

NEW JERSEY: Liberty Counsel Files Appeal Of "Ex-Gay" Torture Ban

In early November, the Liberty Counsel lost its court battle to overturn New Jersey's ban on the "ex-gay" torture of LGBT youth. Yesterday they filed an appeal with the Third Circuit Court.

“A3371 is far more scandalous than the George Washington Bridge lane closure,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “Gov. Christie signed a bill that blocks licensed counselors from providing and young people from receiving any counsel to change unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, mannerisms, or identity. This law is causing immediate harm to young people and to licensed counselors,” said Staver. “A3371 invades the sacrosanct relationship between counselor and client by prohibiting therapeutic conversations that assist a minor to reduce or eliminate unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or identity while permitting conversations that affirm or approve them,” Staver told the court in the brief.

Liberty Counsel's appeal was filed on behalf of the "ex-gay" group NARTH. Curiously, the brief does not mention former NARTH leader George Rekers, who was busted in 2010 as he returned from a ten day European vacation with a young male prostitute. Read the appeal.

Bob Newhart To Headline For Hate Group

GLAAD's Jeremy Hooper reports that Bob Newhart will headline the convention of Legatus, a Catholic group which backs the "ex-gay" crackpots at NARTH and which declares that it is "non-negotiable" for any Catholic to vote for a candidate who backs same-sex marriage.

Yes, that's right: Beloved comedian Bob Newhart, who most recently won an Emmy for playing opposite openly gay Jim Parsons on The Big Bang Theory, is going to *headline* this organization's summit. The man so famous for his dry wit is lending his name and talents to an organization whose anti-LGBT agenda is anything but funny. And get this: Newhart is scheduled to appear alongside such noted anti-LGBT figures as the Catholic League's Bill Donohue and Rick "man on dog" Santorum. Yeah, it's going to be that kind of a night. Why in Larry, Darryl, and my other brother Darryl's name would Mr. Newhart, legendary TV star and one of the most genuinely well-liked people to ever appear before a film camera, sign up for such a gig?!

Here's what Legatus says about homosexuality:

There are many reasons why people suffer from SSA disorder. Some “discover” this tendency within them. Others grow into it through pursuits of pleasure or experimentation. Some use it to punish themselves or others. Whether the disorder has some deep, unknown roots over which one has virtually no control, or whether it’s a developed disorder resulting from bad choices, it leaves an individual disposed toward activities and a lifestyle that are dangerous — physically, emotionally and spiritually. Fortunately there is hope for those who suffer from the disorder. The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality reports that significant numbers of homosexual persons have undergone treatment and had their sexual drives properly ordered.

Hooper hopes that Newhart is simply unaware of the nature of Legatus and that "this booking is the result of bad advice."