California: Governor files appeal to restore ‘gay cure’ ban

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — Governor Jerry Brown is appealing a court injunction that prevents enforcement of a new law banning the administration of gay conversion therapy to anyone under the age of 18 in California, Pink News reports.

Brown signed the measure into law in September, and it was to take effect Jan 1, but a three-judge panel of the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Dec 21 to block its enforcement, pending a determination of its constitutionality, the report says.

The ban on ex-gay therapy is being fought by therapists and religious groups who say the law infringes upon their free-speech rights. In response to the accusations of constitutional infringements, California’s attorney-general’s office pointed to the “extensive professional literature” that discredits ex-gay therapy, The New York Times reported, and said that the new law bans “harmful conduct but not speech or religion.”

Landing image: TruthWinsOut

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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