US judge rules that gay conversion therapy is ‘consumer fraud’
By Josh Haggis
A US judge has ruled that gay conversion clinics are fraudulent.
Judge Peter Bariso Jr. of the Hudson County Superior Court made the claims in a ruling this week regarding a case involving the Jersey City-based Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), reports Slate.
Four men are suing JONAH after they went through therapy where they were allegedly forced to take part in sexually-charged activities such as strip naked while surrounded by a group of men.
Bariso ruled in the case that clinics and medical professionals that label homosexuality a “mental illness, disease, disorder, or equivalent thereof” and say it’s “curable” are committing consumer fraud.
“This is the principal lie the conversion therapy industry uses throughout the country to peddle its quackery to vulnerable clients,” said David Dinielli of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Gay people don’t need to be cured, and we are thrilled that the court has recognized this.”
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