California Gay Conversion Therapy Law

The California Gay Conversion Therapy Law was signed by Governor Jerry Brown, banning therapy to reverse homosexuality for anyone under 18.

Senate Bill 1172, sponsored by Senator Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), is considered a national victory for gays who say conversion therapy, or reparative therapy, has no credibility because "homosexuality is not a disorder."

California Governor Jerry Brown signed the controversial bill into controversial law because he feels that homosexual conversion therapy is psychologically damaging.  California is first in the United States for such a government enforcement.

The new California law bans children and teens under 18 from undergoing sexual orientation change efforts.  According to the law, young gays are to remain gay, even if homosexuality had been forced through child molestation.

The law applies to licensed therapists, not religious ministers or lay people who counsel teens to resist same-sex attractions.

Senator Ted Lieu shocked many Californians by characterizing attempts to help a homosexual become straight as being "evil."

"If anyone had any doubts such practices were evil, they need only listen to accounts of victims who went through this abusive practice," Senator Lieu declared.

Many homosexual California state lawmakers gave tear-jerking speeches in support of the legislation which has now become one of many homosexual state laws signed by the governor of America's most populous state. 

Conversely, many California parents are livid at their parental rights being stripped with a stroke of Brown's pen.

Many conservatives, Jews, Muslims, and Christians are outraged at the new law, and some vow to sue in federal court in Sacramento to prevent the law from taking effect in 2013.

The Sacramento Pacific Legal Institute and other groups have filed federal lawsuits challenging the new state law.

The SPLI filed the lawsuit on behalf of a licensed psychiatrist and a licensed marriage and family therapist, and the action names as a plaintiff Aaron Bitzer of Culver City, who insists he has experienced benefits from homosexual reparative therapy.

The federal suit claims the statewide gay conversion therapy ban violates First Amendment and equal protection rights.

The California Gay Conversion Therapy Law is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2013*

DECEMBER 21, 2012 UPDATE:  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has placed this law on hold to examine its constitutionality in relation to the First Amendment.