Editor’s notes: besides being a licensed contractor (general engineering and general building) in California, and a a pastor for 14 years, I am a pastoral counselor. On the occasion, I have counseled those who wanted out of the gay lifestyle. I never go looking for these folks, but if they come to me, I certainly offer help. The recent California ban on that sort of activity [counseling gays seeking help] was something I never planned on obeying. And, now, the very liberal 9th circuit tells me that I may not have to stand in non-compliance. Good for them. Understand that this ban, not only sought to limit my activity as a counselor, it told individuals in the gay community they had no right to seek control over their own lives. Right or wrong, they should be allowed to seek help if they so desired. -- blog editor.
A federal appeals court on Friday put the brakes on a first-of-its-kind California law that bans therapy aimed at turning gay minors straight.
A three-judge
panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency order
putting the law on hold until it can hear full arguments on the issue. The law
was set to take effect Jan. 1.
Licensed
counselors who practice so-called ``reparative therapy'' and two families who
say their teenage sons have benefited from it sought the injunction after a
lower court judge refused the request.
The law, which was
passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown this fall, states that
therapists and counselors who use ``sexual orientation change efforts'' on
clients under 18 would be engaging in unprofessional conduct and subject to
discipline by state licensing boards.
The appeals
court's order prevents the state from enforcing the law, SB1172, while a
different three-judge panel considers if the measure violates the First
Amendment rights of therapists and parents.
. . . . . source: NBC, Southern California.
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