Religious Groups Mount Fight Against Conversion Therapy Ban
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — One after another, men and women of faith took to the stage to oppose a measure aimed at stopping advertising and charging for conversion therapy.
"I no longer experience same sexual attraction," one said.
"My relationship with Jesus Christ has changed my life including my sexual orientation," another said.
"My partner was HIV positive and Hepatitis C positive," said Jim Domen.
Pastor Jim Domen almost married that man before California legalized gay marriage.
Instead, he chose to attend a church that he says turned him straight. But the practice, known as conversion therapy, may soon be treated as a form of consumer fraud in California.
"If I tell you that if you eat this orange that you'll grow a foot taller give it to you for free, that's OK. But if I tell you that you can eat this orange and you'll grow a foot taller and pay me for this, that's is a fraudulent practice," said Assemblyman Evan Low (D-San Jose).
As a gay lawmaker, Low says the issue is personal for him. He says any therapy attempting to "cure" gayness is ineffective. Almost all major medical groups and therapists agree.
"Usually in my practice, it is the case that those attractions have not gone away but suppressed," said Finley Terhune of the Gender Health Center.
California has already joined states like New Jersey and Washington, D.C., banning minors from seeking any therapy that promises to change one's sexual orientation.
"We are very concerned that freedoms are being taken away especially when it comes to churches and people of faith one of the most freedoms we have in this country," said Pastor Him Franklin of Cornerstone Church in Fresno.
Low's bill will not outlaw the sale of conversion therapy books. it strictly makes it illegal for people to advertise or sell the practice.
Attorneys for religious groups are already gearing up for a long legal battle.
They say they plan to sue the state if the bill passes.
For now, the measure is heading to its next Senate committee hearing before making it the full floor for a vote.