WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld California SB 1172 which prohibits dangerous and disproved efforts designed to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender expression that have proven to inflict great emotional harm. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law last year.  A similar bill in New Jersey was signed into law by Republican Gov. Chris Christie just last week.  Upon learning of the Court’s decision, Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin issued the following statement:

"Today the court made a powerful statement that California’s LGBT young people deserve to be protected from grave psychological abuse.  We're grateful to the court for recognizing that the law is a valid exercise of California’s duty to regulate medical professionals and ensure that they do not advance ineffective and harmful practices. The law will put an end to practices that have not only been debunked as junk science, but have been proven to have drastically negative effects on youth well-being. We commend Governor Brown in California and Governor Christie in New Jersey for putting children first, and call on all states to follow their 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."

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. 

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.