An openly gay New Jersey assemblyman is pushing for legislation that will limit practitioners of conversion counseling that aims to persuade homosexuals to have heterosexual identity, according to the
Philadelphia Inquirer.
Democratic Assemblyman Timothy Eustace, the father of two, says he wants to outlaw use of the technique on people younger than 18 years old, the Inquirer reported Wednesday.
“I see it as a form of child abuse,” he said. Being gay “is not an illness, so what are they fixing?”
The American Psychological Association discredits conversion therapy, and so does all major mental health organizations.
"Lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations are not disorders,” the association says on its website. “Research has found no inherent association between any of these sexual orientations and psychopathology. . . . Lesbian, gay, and bisexual relationships are normal forms of human bonding. Therefore, these mainstream organizations long ago abandoned classifications of homosexuality as a mental disorder.”
Democratic State Sens. Raymond Lesniak and Stephen Sweeney plan to introduce a similar measure in the Senate, saying conversion therapy exploits gay young people, and Sweeney said parents don’t have the right to endanger their children through such psychotherapy.
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.