(Image Source: KMAX )


BY JOHN O’CONNOR

ANCHOR LOGAN TITTLE

California has become the first state in the country to ban controversial therapy practices that try to turn gay teenagers straight. Sacramento’s KMAX explains why .

“Lawmakers in the assembly passed the bill because they say the treatment can cause teenagers to kill themselves. They say they want to stop groups promote that therapy.”

California Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law on Saturday. In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle , Governor Brown said …

"This bill bans non-scientific 'therapies' that have driven young people to depression and suicide. These practices have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery."

The Huffington Post reports these “conversion” or “reparative” therapy techniques have ranged from simple counseling to shock therapy and even exorcism.

“[These techniques] have long been used in an attempt to ‘cure’ individuals of their homosexual and transgender orientations and identities. However, in recent years even those who once championed the idea that someone can convert to heterosexuality have admitted that viewpoint is flawed.”

The Wisconsin Gazette notes supporters of the bill include a variety of nationally recognized psychological associations.

“Proponents of the legislation included the California Psychological Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, [and] the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (California Division) … ”

The first-of-its-kind bill will make the practice of homosexual conversion therapy on minors an offense punishable under the law. The legislation will officially take effect on January 1st.