California bans "gay cure" therapy
SACRAMENTO, Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation that makes California the first state to ban a controversial form of psychotherapy that's aimed at making gay teenagers straight.
Effective Jan. 1, mental health practitioners are prohibited from performing sexual orientation change efforts — known as reparative or conversion therapy — for anyone under 18.
The therapies "have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery," Brown said in a statement.
Mainstream associations representing psychiatrists and psychologists have dismissed reparative therapy in recent decades. A number of mental health associations in California — including the state's Board of Behavorial Sciences, the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and the California Psychological Association — supported the legislation.
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But some organizations and ministries continue to use counseling and prayer to try to help conflicted Christians rid themselves of unwanted homosexual inclinations. Gay rights activists have said the damage they inflict on individuals can be deep and lasting and can put youth at higher risk of depression and suicide.
"We're grateful to Gov. Brown for standing with California's children," the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement. "LGBT youth will now be protected from a practice that has not only been debunked as junk science, but has been proven to have drastically negative effects on their well-being."
1998: "Ex-gay" says conversion therapy works
The group called on other states to follow California's lead on the issue.
Conservative religious groups and some Republicans have argued that banning conversion therapy would hinder parents' right to provide psychological care for children experiencing gender confusion.
The Encino, Calif.-based National Association for Research and Therapy on Homosexuality said in August that the bill was a case of "legislative overreach." They said Democratic state Senator Ted Lieu's claims of harm to children were based on politics, not research.
Lieu, who sponsored the bill, said the law will stop children from being psychologically abused.
Brown signed the bill Saturday amid a busy weekend that saw him act on more than 100 pieces of legislation, including a bill he signed late Sunday that would allow some illegal immigrants to get California drivers licenses.
The bill lets the Department of Motor Vehicles issue licenses to illegal immigrants eligible for work permits under a new Obama administration policy. It requires the department to accept as proof of legal residence whatever document the federal government provides to participants in its deferred action program.
The governor also signed into law a bill that will allow parents who don't have their children vaccinated to enroll their children in school. Parents would have to obtain a waiver from a physician or a nurse practitioner saying they received information about the benefits and risks of immunization.
Brown vetoed a bill that could have protected illegal immigrants from deportation if they committed minor infractions. The bill was dubbed "anti-Arizona" legislation, a reference to that state's immigrant identification law.
He also vetoed legislation that would have provided overtime pay, meal breaks and other labor protections to an estimated 200,000 caregivers, nannies and house cleaners. The Democratic governor said they deserve fair pay and safe working conditions but said the bill "raises a number of unanswered questions."
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OBAMA-IS-TOAST
Gor is telling us what his shrink told him about himself.
*****"Narcissists work hard to distort our reality to make their reality feel safer"
Gays never tire of trying to make others who disagree with them out to be gay in an effort to try and silence them.
*****"They are condescending and intensely angered by anything that seems to suggest that he or she might have a flaw."
He is projecting his own self loathing because it is hard to live with the vile things he engages in. Can you blame him?
"Narcissists will strain every muscle to meet their own "flawless" image, and demean or destroy anyone or anything who casts any doubt on this image. "
He just described himself
You can't make that stuff up without on hands experiance.
See? You do need the cure badly.
*****"Narcissists will do anything, including habitual lying, to maintain their own feeling that others see them as without any flaws."
Toast is a full-blown narcissist, per the definition. (and watch - his response will prove it again!)
gay lifestyle choice?
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Just a few pages back, GOB said that he himself had to choose. Personally, I never had to consider homosexuality - my heterosexuality didn't let me.
It must be conflicted to be a "Good Ole Boy" who doesn't know whether to help a friend slaughter a hog, or maaaybe just smoke their pork instead...
You actually said you chose, GOB, which means that you CONSIDERED being homosexual. Read back a few pages, and don't blame me for what you said.
I didn't. I was born straight, and it was never a choice.
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I disagree, especially in your case.
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Mark Foley
U.S. Representative
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Glenn Murphy Jr.
National Chairman of the Young Republicans
Chairman of the Clark County Republican Party
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Bob Allen
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
Florida Chairman of John McCain's Presidential Campaign
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Ted Haggard
Leader of the National Association of Evangelicals
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Larry Craig
U.S. Senator
Senate Liason for Mitt Romney's Presidential Campaign
And heck - that's just the ones which were outted, and only in 2007!!
Peverts do not deserve freedom but to be in jail and punsihed severely for their sexual crimes as they once were.
All they deserve is a fair and speedy trial before they are punished.
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Homosexuality isn't illegal.
However, the pedophilia which goes on in your Church is illegal.
And you're right - they should be jailed for their sexual crimes.
For a "Christian", you hold a LOT of hate, just like Christ wouldn't.
And GOB - why are you calling yourself 'bad'?
The Catholic Church is full of both of your kind, Gor Gor and Repubs. Homos and Pedophiles
If you two ever need a place to hide out or look for more of your own kind, join the seminary.
Don't be so mean to an institution that protects you and gives you a home.
So what was your point?
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You're CATHOLIC? Why don't you work on cleaning up your own boy-and-girl-molesting cesspool before you start worrying about, oh, ANYTHING else.
Just a thought.
Sorry, but there are ALREADY many of us Constitutionalists.
It is a group of people who wish to impose their set of "What Jesus Wouldn't Do" morality onto everyone else, rather than live and let live.
It is made up of people scared that their may be other ways to live.
Pedophilia hurts others, so cannot become legal. QED.
Please - be specific.
The Taliban is a group of Islamic extremists and has absolutely nothing to do with Christianity!
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You claim to not be religious, but your words betray you.
So does your hate of Muslims and gays. YOU are part of the American Taliban - you wish to inflict your beliefs into the lives of others.
GWB told President Chirac that Iraq should be invaded because the "time of Gog and Magog is here".
That refers to the Book of Revelation, and the Apocalypse, or "End Times". The man is seriously insane.
'The story has now been confirmed by Chirac himself in a new book, published in France in March, by journalist Jean Claude Maurice. Chirac is said to have been stupefied and disturbed by Bush's invocation of Biblical prophesy to justify the war in Iraq and "wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs".'
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You didn't read that part, did you?
Shouldn't teens (and everyone else) be allowed to decide for themselves what they can and cannot talk about behind closed doors with their own therapists?
Bring back civil liberties and personal privacy!
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We call it the "American Taliban", aja Religious Right.
They want to control every aspect of your life, or deny you your Constitutional rights. They think Jesus' message was one of hate.
.
We don't judge you.