Provider of Gay-Conversion Therapy Must “Cease and Desist”

February 4th, 2016

Awake Goy

New Jersey jury determined gay-to-straight conversion therapy to be fraudulent.

In 2013, Republican presidential candidate Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey (NJ) signed a bill that prevented licensed therapists from practicing gay-conversion therapy in the state. In April 2015, President Obama called for an end to therapies aimed at “repairing” gay, lesbian, and transgender youth. In June 2015, a NJ jury unanimously determined that Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) committed consumer fraud when it claimed it could turn gay people straight.

A lawsuit was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on behalf of three young men and two mothers against JONAH in 2012. It was the first case in the nation that challenged gay-to-straight conversion therapy under a state consumer fraud act.

During the trial, JONAH officials said they had the right to help those who were conflicted about their gender identity or sexual orientation and that they didn’t make false claims or guarantees to their clients. Although claiming they had converted hundreds of people from gay to straight, JONAH could not produce a single client to testify his sexual orientation had been changed though the program: most of their witnesses said that despite JONAH’s efforts, they were still primarily sexually attracted to other men.

JONAH’s conversion therapy was built on the belief that homosexuality is rooted in behavior that can be changed; thus, gay people are sick and need to be cured. Every major medical and mental health organization has denounced this premise. The American Psychological Association notes such an idea is not only psychologically damaging but also promotes a climate of bigotry and discrimination against the LGBT community.

A NJ Superior Court Judge handed down a ruling that required JONAH to permanently cease operations, to dissolve its corporate entity, and not to appeal the jury’s verdict. The founder and a counselor are prohibited from engaging in any form of conversion therapy commerce in the state. Damages of $72,400 were awarded to the plaintiffs in compensation for the fees they paid to JONAH and for remedial health counseling for one plaintiff. Plaintiffs were also awarded $3.5 million for legal fees; they agreed to accept an undisclosed portion of that award.

David Dinielli, SPLC deputy legal director, said: “JONAH peddled discredited, pseudo-scientific treatments to people who weren’t sick, who weren’t broken, and who needed nothing but love and support.”