Okay, so we blew it with that whole Prop. H8 garbage, but this is, to quote Joe Biden, a Big Fucking Deal:
A first-of-its-kind ban on a controversial form of psychotherapy aimed at making gay people straight faces a key vote in front of California lawmakers.
Supporters say the legislation, which is before its final committee Tuesday, is necessary because such treatments are dangerous and can lead to suicide.
The bill, SB1172, was expected to go to its final committee hearing today and would then go to the state Senate. (The NY Daily News piece incorrectly referred to it as AB1172.)
The author of the bill isn't one of the usual suspects in San Francisco either; it's from Ted Lieu of Torrance. Now I just may be out of the loop up here in NoCal, but I've never heard of Torrance as being a major hotbed of GLBT activity.
"This therapy can be dangerous," said the bill's author Sen. Ted Lieu. He added the treatments can "cause extreme depression and guilt" that sometimes leads to suicide.
Not only would so-called "reparative therapy" be banned for teens, adults who seek such therapy would be required to sign a waiver that says the treatment is ineffective and possibly dangerous.
Lieu was inspired to sponsor the legislation after watching a cable documentary that featured people who had gone through such treatment, and a doctor described by Lieu as "evil". (Wonder if that doctor has met any nice rent boys lately?)
Of course, the haters have their objections; NARTH, the scammers who make their money off of this crap, claim that it would stop parents from seeking "appropriate therapy" for their children, as well as being an attack on religious freedom. Yeah, because child abuse is sanctioned in the First Amendment and when it comes to teens, that's what this "therapy" actually is.
If you're in California (especially if your Assemblyperson or Senator is up for election this year), a phone call or note about this bill and your support for it would definitely be helpful. Maybe it will start a wave of similar bills across the country, and this phony baloney "treatment" that has been disavowed by the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association and the American Psychiatric Association can at least be kept from being foisted on the most vulnerable members of our society, our young people. And maybe after doing the wrong thing in 2008, California will do the right thing here.