That "gay conversion" group being sued? The head of it is a 4-time felon...
And he was disbarred as a lawyer.
Suit attacks "conversion therapy" providers.
The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit accusing a New Jersey
organization of consumer fraud for offering conversion therapy
services with false claims. [SPLC files groundbreaking lawsuit
accusing conversion therapy organization of fraud. SPLC news release, Nov 27, 2012]
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-files-groundbreaking-lawsuit-accusing-conversion-therapy-organization-of-frau
The suit, brought in state court by four former clients and two of
their parents, alleges that Jews Offering New Alternatives for
Healing (JONAH), its founder Arthur Goldberg, and counselor Alan
Downing violated New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act by claiming to cure
clients of being gay. The complaint states:
**The underlying premise of conversion therapy--that a person can
"convert" to heterosexuality--has no basis in scientific fact.
**Customers typically pay a minimum of $100 for weekly individual
counseling sessions and another $60 for group therapy sessions.
**Counselors at JONAH use techniques that encourage clients to blame
their parents and to participate in violent role play exercises where
they beat effigies of their mothers.
**Some sessions involved clients undressing in front of a mirror and
even a group session where young men were instructed to remove their
clothing and stand naked in a circle with Downing, who was also
undressed.
**Another session involved a subject attempting to wrest away two
oranges, which were used to represent testicles, from another
individual.
**Aside from being junk science, conversion therapy also promotes the
idea that gay men and lesbians choose their sexual orientation, a
position that encourages anti-gay bigotry.
**Conversion therapy has been discredited by major American medical,
psychiatric, psychological and professional counseling organizations.
Before founding JONAH, Goldberg, was convicted of three counts of
mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the federal
government. He was ultimately disbarred from being an attorney.
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