'Gay Cure Therapy' Banned in California, Minors will no Longer Undergo 'Sexual Prejudice, Psychological Abuse'

California is the first state in the nation to ban what has been deemed "gay cure therapy" for minors. California Governor Jerry Brown announced on Sunday that he signed the Senate Bill 1172 (going into effect Jan. 1, 2013) which will prohibit children under the age of 18 from enduring "sexual orientation change efforts." State-licensed therapists will no longer be able to engage in "prejudicial and physiologically abusive" practices in what many deem to be "harmful" attempts at "repairing and converting" a young person's sexuality.

Many members and supporters of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community insist that "gay cure therapy" is dangerous because it can put youth at higher risk of depression and suicide.Gov. Brown seems to agree, stating that such therapies "have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery."

"Governor Brown today reaffirmed what medical and mental health organizations have made clear: efforts to change minors' sexual orientation are not therapy, they are the relics of prejudice and abuse that have inflicted untold harm on young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians," said Equality California board president Clarissa Filgioun in a recent press release.

Senator Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) sponsored the bill, claiming that such "bogus and unethical" practices by mental-health providers in attempts to try and change a young person's sexual orientation have resulted in "irreparable psychological and emotional harm to patients." Lieu told NBS News on Sunday:

"I am deeply honored Governor Brown signed SB 1172. The bill is necessary because children were being psychologically abused by reparative therapists who would try to change the child's sexual orientation. An entire house of medicine has rejected gay conversion therapy. Not only does it not work but it is harmful. Patients who go through this have gone through guilt and shame, and some have committed suicide."

"Gay cure" (also commonly known as "conversion" or "reparative"), is a type of therapy that purports to "change" sexual orientation. Such practices have become a highly-controversial topic throughout the United States - the American Psychiatric Association has ultimately condemned  psychiatric "treatment" that is "based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that a patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation." The Association advises that "ethical practitioners [should] refrain from attempts to change individuals' sexual orientation," insisting that political and moral debates over the integration of gays and lesbians into the mainstream of American society have obscured scientific data about changing sexual orientation "by calling into question the motives and even the character of individuals on both sides of the issue."

The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) opposes the bill, and insists Lieu's claims of are not backed up by scientific research. The group plans to seek an injunction against the bill.

In the meantime, some other states across the country are attempting to put into effect similar bills that would ban "gay cure therapy" for minors. New Jersey assemblyman Tim Eustace (an openly gay Democrat) said he plans to introduce legislation to outlaw conversion therapy for minors in NJ.