January 12, 2015
Ex-Gay Group Now Casting Minors for Lawsuit
EDGE READ TIME: 2 MIN.
In an effort to have Washington D.C.'s recently passed law banning harmful conversion therapy on LGBT minors overturned, Christopher Doyle, head of the "ex-gay" advocacy group Voice of the Voiceless (VoV), is holding a casting call for a poster child willing to serve as plaintiff in a lawsuit.
"We are still seeking a plaintiff (minor and their family) who has been disenfranchised by this law in the District," Doyle told the Christian Post, "but at this point, we cannot find a licensed practitioner who even practices SOCE therapy in the District, nor can we identify a client who has been disenfranchised."
Doyle continued: "Churches and faith-based organizations ... should contact our organization if they feel one of their member's families or children would like to see SOCE therapy in the District but cannot because of the law, and we will assist them in finding legal counsel."
"SOCE" is Doyle-speak for Sexual Orientation Change Effort, more commonly referred to as "reparative therapy" or "gay conversion therapy," a practice that has been widely condemned by the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, National Association of School Psychologists, and a host of other professional counseling and therapeutic groups who deem it to be ineffective and harmful.
In December 2014, the Washington D.C. city council voted unanimously to ban the practice of reparative therapy on minors. Similar laws are on the books in California and New Jersey.
The Washington Post reports that the D.C. law bans efforts by licensed mental health providers to seek to change a minor's sexual orientation "including efforts to change behaviors, gender identity or expression, or to reduce or eliminate sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward a person of the same sex or gender."
Doyle, a self-proclaimed "ex-gay" and conversion therapy practitioner in neighboring Maryland, has been a vocal opponent of the D.C. ban which he referred to as "a victory for gay pedophiles everywhere."
