California
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law SB 1172, a bill that will put an
end to dangerous and disproved efforts designed to change a young
person’s sexual orientation or gender expression that have proven to
inflict great emotional harm. Upon learning of the governor’s signing
of the bill, Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin issued the
following statement:
"We're grateful to Governor Brown for standing with California's
children. LGBT youth will now be protected from a practice that has not
only been debunked as junk science, but has been proven to have
drastically negative effects on their well-being. We commend Governor
Brown for putting children first, and call on all states to take
California’s lead on this issue. We will continue our fight against
this kind of child abuse, which has been deemed harmful to children by
all major mental health, medical, and child welfare organizations."
Authored by California Senator Ted Lieu, SB 1172 was sponsored by
Equality California, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gaylesta,
Lambda Legal, Mental Health of North America, and the Courage Campaign.
This week nearly 50,000 concerned citizens signed a Human Rights Campaign petition urging the Governor to sign the bill.
Efforts to change sexual orientation or gender expression have been
debunked as junk science, and have also been proven harmful to children
and adults. All major medical and mental health organizations have
denounced the practice including: the American Psychological
Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American School
Counselor Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American
Medical Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the
American Psychoanalytic Association, the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Pan American Health Organization. Learn
more at www.hrc.org/reparativetherapy.