FROM condemnation to the courts. Gay "conversion therapy", the controversial counselling for gay people who wish to change their sexuality, is now in the dock.
Last week, four men in New Jersey filed a civil suit under the state's Consumer Fraud Act against a counselling centre called Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing. The men claim that they spent thousands of dollars in therapy fees, only to be told that their continued same-sex attraction was "their own fault".
Meanwhile, advocates for the counselling are trying to block a new California state law that has banned its use with minors.
Helen Killaspy of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in London says that there is no scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. "'Treatments' of homosexuality create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination flourish," she says.
"Sexuality is so hardwired that trying to convert somebody is set up for failure," says psychologist Mark Griffiths at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
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