Posted on 01/04/2016 12:09:33 PM PST by SeekAndFind
A Jewish group offering therapy for same-sex attraction will be ceasing operations in January as a result of a lawsuit filed against it in New Jersey.
Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, also called JONAH International, sent an email to supporters on New Year's Eve announcing the closure.
"The N.J. court delivered its final judgement on Dec. 18, 2015. Under the order, JONAH must permanently cease operations, including providing referrals and operating its website and listserv,"read the email.
"That means that our site, www.jonahweb.org, will no longer be available online after mid- January 2016, and neither of us will be permitted to give referrals to strugglers who call or email with requests for help. JONAH is required to dissolve as a corporate entity and liquidate its assets by the middle of May."
The email denounced the decision as a "tragic miscarriage of justice,"adding that it "reflects the near triumph of political correctness and the gay activist agenda in the USA."
"Coercive tactics that attempt to shut down choice are antithetical to a country founded in religious tolerance. We believe that this decision continues the erosion of religious freedom now taking place in our country,"continued the email.
"Seeking counseling is a very private and personal decision people make and should not be interfered with by government or anyone."
JONAH International practiced a form of conversion therapy or reparative therapy, a type of controversial treatment that claims it can change a person's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.
While mainstream American psychiatry does not endorse SOCE therapy, and some states have banned the practice for minors, several groups including JONAH offer it to patients.
In November 2012, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit against JONAH on behalf of four men and two parents, charging that the group was guilty of consumer fraud.
The SPLC argued that JONAH violated New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act, specifically the measure regarding "ascertainable loss"regarding the therapy procedure.
JONAH was legally represented in part by the Rancho Santa Fe, California-based Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund.
Last February, State Superior Court Judge Peter F. Bariso Jr. ruled that JONAH could not bring witnesses that considered homosexuality to be a mental illness.
"The overwhelming weight of scientific authority concludes that homosexuality is not a disorder or abnormal. The universal acceptance of that scientific conclusion -- save for outliers such as JONAH -- requires that any expert opinions to the contrary must be barred,"wrote Bariso.
Last June, a jury decided unanimously that JONAH was liable for consumer fraud. While initially planning to appeal, the group ultimately agreed to a settlement that requires them to dissolve.
Regarding the dissolution of JONAH, SPLC Deputy Legal Director David Dinielli claimed in a statement that "JONAH's conversion therapy program harmed countless LGBT people and their families. ... Other conversion therapy providers would be well-advised to examine what happened to JONAH, and to abandon their foolish efforts to make gay people straight."
If anything would illegal — you’d think it would be physical mutilation in the name of “gender reassignment”.
Not mental health counseling for people who are ill and want help.
Trying to talk people out of being gay = cruel and inhumane. Giving little kids hormones, drugs, and surgery to mutilate their bodies = wonderful and kind.
Sodomites all bent out of shape over, as they always tell us, “something that doesn’t affect you at all.”
If only it were a moslem group doing the same thing; they would have gotten a grant.
Isaiah 5:20
its interesting its legal to use gender therapy and take a four year old boy and give him hormone treatment and operate to change him into a sudo girl. but it is illegal to offer counseling to grown men that are attracted sexually to other men with the purpose of changing the gender they are attracted to......I think if aliens were to show up from another planet that this would be making them scratch there heads.
Hear hear...
Being married to a therapist I have seen the Gay Gestapo in action. My Christian therapist spouse is terrified to ever be accused of crossing the line when discussing this topic. It is enough to get you ostracized from the field and ultimately lose the ability to practice.
My spouse deals with a large percentage of sexual abuse victims who have struggled with this issue due to the abuse by an older same sex adult perpertrator. To suggest that the same-sex attraction is due to the abuse is unacceptable, interestingly enough, when victims deal with the abuse and are able to find healing, many find that they are actually attracted to the opposite sex. These are terrifying days we are living in.
And Leftists and bratty kids will beat you to death with “homophobe homophobe who are you to judge!”
I hate kids.
So much for freedom. Liberals mean freedom for perversity but tyranny for most everything else.
So if I”m reading this right, someone who voluntarily seeks help to work through homosexual urges can not get help? A government appointed judge has declared that person can not get help because they are not mentally ill?
Really I have no problem with gay people. But if some person or kid says “you know, this just isn’t right, I want to talk to someone and get help” is out of luck now?
The gaystapo strikes again. They, by definition, can not procreate so they need to recruit and adopt.
This is sick. This is Obamanation. Obama LOVES homosexuality and perversion. You can guarantee NAMBLA is watching and taking notes. You can bet Pedos are watching and taking notes.
“You’re the Copernicus of the anus” -Mark Corrigan, Peep Show
Brought to us by Gov Chris Christie
Added for clarity.
“... amid court order ...”
"The overwhelming weight of scientific authority concludes that homosexuality is not a disorder or abnormal. The universal acceptance of that scientific conclusion -- save for outliers such as JONAH -- requires that any expert opinions to the contrary must be barred,"wrote Bariso.
Are still the land of the free?
I don’t see how this is not a 1st Amendment Issue regardless of one’s stance of Homosexuality.
Progressives are really despicable, with how they ban this for adults, but think a kid who’s age is in the single digits can “transition”.
We are now RULED by black robbed tyrants.
The thought control commissars win again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.