Orthodox and Gay: “The Kids Don’t Even Know That They’re in Conversion Therapy” | NYT Opinion

May 19, 2023 | In 2015 a jury in New Jersey found that a Jewish group offering sexuality conversion therapy had committed consumer fraud by claiming it could turn gay Orthodox men straight.

In the Opinion video above, one of the plaintiffs in that case, Chaim Levin, describes the struggle of growing up in an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn that offered him no room to come out and thrive as a gay man. In his teens and still deeply in the closet, he sought help from the group Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, or JONAH, which employed practices based on the theory that homosexuality could be overcome with therapy. It made matters worse.

“I was in no man’s land,” he recalls.

JONAH was forced to shut down. But the problem of homophobic groups wielding fake science to prey on young gay people — including in the Orthodox Jewish community — persists: Conversion therapy remains fully legal in 20 states. At a time when many states and localities are impeding discussion about gender and sexual identity, conversion therapy is yet another obstacle for people trying to find their place in the world.


WARNING: This video is NOT suitable for children. – Mark

Israel Elections | Netanyahu in Coalition Talks with anti-LGBTQ Party, Could Walk Back Conversion Therapy Ban

HAARETZ: After securing a majority in the Israeli elections, Netanyahu’s Likud looking to expedite coalition talks and bring the anti-LGBTQ Noam party into the governing coalition

Officials in Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party’s plan to negotiate a coalition agreement with the anti-LGBTQ Noam faction of Religious Zionism with the aim of bringing Noam into the new government coalition – potentially walking back recent civil rights gains such as a ban on conversion therapy.

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A number of policy changes instituted by the outgoing government of Prime Minister Yair Lapid are expected to be reversed by the new Netanyahu-led government, including policies benefitting the queer community, a senior Likud official told Haaretz. They mainly came from the Health Ministry, where Nitzan Horowitz, who is openly gay, is currently the minister. » | Michael Hauser Tov and Bar Peleg | Thursday, November 3, 2022

The Israel We Knew Is Gone »

Top Ghanaian Doctors Use Misinformation to Train Nurses in ‘Conversion Therapy’

OPEN DEMOCRACY: Influential mental health figures call LGBTIQ identities ‘disease’ and ‘disorder’ – yet regulators remain silent

Leading Ghanaian doctors provided anti-LGBTIQ health misinformation and promoted controversial ‘conversion therapy’ practices at a workshop for medical professionals, openDemocracy has discovered.

The two-day workshop in the capital, Accra, on providing “treatment, care and support” for LGBTIQ people was run by the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association and aimed at nurses, psychologists, counsellors and midwives.

LGBTIQ people were described as “persons with sexual orientation and gender identity disorder”, and one speaker asked if homosexuality should be “rejected” as a vice treated “as a disease”. » | Khatondi Soita Wepukhulu | Thursday, July 28, 2022

Boris Johnson Ditches Plans for Ban on LGBT Conversion Practices

THE GUARDIAN: Leaked document forces government to announce change in approach despite repeated promises

A protester holds up a sign during a Reclaim Pride protest last year. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock
Boris Johnson has ditched plans for a legal ban on conversion practices despite repeated promises for such a move, Downing Street has confirmed.

The government announced the change of policy after it emerged in a leaked document obtained by ITV News.

A government spokesperson said: “Having explored this sensitive issue in great depth the government has decided to proceed by reviewing how existing law can be deployed more effectively to prevent this in the quickest way possible, and explore the use of other non-legislative measures.”

Conversion practices attempt to change or suppress a person’s sexuality or gender identity and Johnson and his predecessor Theresa May promised to make it illegal.

The move to drop plans for a legal ban was condemned by the Liberal Democrats. The party’s equalities spokesperson, the MP Wera Hobhouse, said: “This is not just yet another U-turn from the Tories, but giving the green light to a form of torture in the UK. This is an utter betrayal of the LGBT+ community. » | Heather Stewart and Harriet Sherwood | Thursday, March 31, 2022

This is proof that BoJo is not only a clown; but he is a contemptible clown! Conversion therapy is not only very dangerous; it is also ineffective and unenlightened. BoJo, you are a disgrace to your party; moreover, you are unworthy of the leadership position you hold. You have ditched the ban on conversion therapy; now it is time—high time—for the country to ditch you! – © Mark

Human Rights Lawyers Call on UK Government to Ban ‘Conversion Therapy’

THE GUARDIAN: Experts say all practices, including prayer, aiming to change sexual orientation or gender identity must be criminalised

Activists have long campaigned for the government to outlaw conversion practices. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock
Leading human rights lawyers and experts have called for swift action to outlaw so-called conversion therapy, which they say is degrading and harmful, and should not be tolerated in a civilised society.

The Forum, chaired by Helena Kennedy QC, says all practices, including prayer, that seek to suppress, “cure” or change sexual orientation or gender identity must be criminalised. There should be no defence that a victim appears to have consented.

“Individuals who seek out conversion practices in the hope of being ‘cured’ are not made aware of the severe psychological harm to which they are exposed, and so cannot give informed consent,” says the Forum’s report, published on Friday.

People who “actively sought out and ‘consented’ to these practices … have since provided evidence of the severe, long-term, negative psychological impact”. » | Harriet Sherwood | Friday, October 1, 2021

German Minister Calls for Ban on Conversion Therapy

THE GUARDIAN: ‘Homosexuality is not an illness,’ says gay health minister Jens Spahn

The German health minister, Jens Spahn, has said that he will seek to ban “conversion therapies” that claim to change sexual orientation.

“Homosexuality is not an illness, which is why it does not need to be treated,” Spahn, who is gay himself, told the left-leaning Berlin daily Die Tageszeitung.

He hoped that a German law banning such therapies could be adopted by the summer. » | Agence France-Presse | Friday, February 15, 2019

California Bans Use of Controversial Therapy Aimed at 'Curing’ Homosexuality
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: California’s assembly has approved a bill prohibiting the use of therapy designed to “cure” homosexuality in teenagers, bringing the state closer to becoming the first to ban the practise in the US.

Gay rights advocates hailed the decision of the Democrat-controlled assembly as a major victory for gay rights. Gay right advocates have long insisted there is no medical foundation to conversion therapy, because homosexuality is not a disorder.

John Perez, a member of the assembly and the first openly gay speaker of California’s lower house said during the debate on Tuesday: “It is inappropriate for anyone, including parents, to subject anybody to dehumanising activity.”

The bill to prohibit children and teenagers from undergoing conversion therapy was passed by a vote of 51 to 21.

Conversion therapy is an attempt to change the sexual orientation of a person, from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual.

Opponents of the practice claim the therapy can cause depression, and lead to substance abuse and suicide. » | Rose Troup Buchanan | Wednesday, August 29, 2012