(Newser)
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California Gov. Jerry Brown made history yesterday by signing the nation's first legislation banning "gay cure" therapy for minors, the LA Times reports. "This bill bans non-scientific 'therapies' that have driven young people to depression and suicide,'' Brown said. "These practices have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery." Sen. Ted Lieu, who introduced the bill, said he considers such therapy a form of psychological abuse against children.
But Republican lawmakers opposed bill SB 1172, saying it interfered with parents' ability to independently raise their kids. And a Christian legal defense group says it will take the case to court over constitutional protections like free speech for therapists and access to information for patients. "The privacy concerns are fairly significant," says an attorney for the Pacific Justice Institute. "In our view, it's an intrusion beyond what the government has done before." (A psychiatrist who championed gay-to-straight therapy, however, calls it "the only regret I have.")
