Judge blocks California ban on gay conversion therapy: L.A. Now Live

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A federal judge on Monday blocked California from enforcing its new gay-conversion ban on therapy that seeks to change the sexual orientation of minors from gay to straight.

The Times’ Sacramento Bureau Chief Evan Halper will join L.A. Now Live at 9 a.m. to discuss the judge’s ruling and the law. Questions can be submitted live.

Halper reported that U.S. District Judge William Shubb ruled that the new law, SB 1172, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this year, may inhibit the 1st Amendment rights of therapists who oppose homosexuality. The judge signed a temporary injunction that prohibits the state from enforcing the ban, the first of its kind in the nation, against the three plaintiffs in the suit pending trial.

Shubb wrote in his 38-page ruling that the new law, by state Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles) “likely… bans a mental health provider from expressing his or her viewpoints about homosexuality as part of … treatment.”

The judge also found fault with the evidence cited by proponents of the law that conversion therapy puts patients at risk of suicide. He wrote in his ruling that it is “based on questionable and scientifically incomplete studies that may not have included minors.”