A New Jersey trial judge issued two rulings in February in a pending consumer fraud case against JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing), an organization that provides so-called “conversion therapy” seeking to “assist individuals to purge unwanted same-sex attractions,” finding that certain representations made by JONAH to potential clients violate the state’s law against consumer fraud. The judge, Peter F. Bariso, Jr., of the Superior Court in Hudson County, also ruled that most of … <Read More>
gay conversion therapy
3rd Circuit Rejects Constitutional Challenge to New Jersey’s Ban on “Conversion Therapy” for Gay Minors
A unanimous three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decisively rejected a constitutional challenge to a New Jersey law that prohibits licensed therapists from performing “sexual orientation change efforts” (SOCE) — sometimes called “conversion therapy” — on persons under 18 years of age. The court rejected arguments that the law violates the freedom of speech and free exercise of religion of the therapist, in a September 11 opinion by Circuit Judge … <Read More>
N.J. Federal Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to State Ban on “Gay Conversion Therapy” for Minors
U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson has granted the state of New Jersey’s motion for summary judgment, rejecting a constitutional challenge by practitioners of “sexual orientation change efforts” (SOCE) to a recently enacted state law that prohibits licensed counselors from providing such therapy to minors. (SOCE is popularly known as “gay conversion therapy.”) Following along the lines of a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, which … <Read More>