Gay conversion therapy--a controversial practice meant to change a patient from homosexual to heterosexual-- was lambasted in a recent ruling by a New Jersey judge.
Court documents show Superior Court Judge Peter F. Bariso berated therapist Alan Downing and the Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) centre for practising the contentious treatment.
JONAH was sued by Chaim Levin and four other men for subjecting them to treatments that did not "cure" them of homosexuality.
In one therapy session, Downing allegedly had Levin remove his clothing while saying negative things about himself. He also allegedly had the 18-year-old touch his private areas during the $100 session.
Other sessions involved gay slurs being yelled at the patients, nude group sessions, and "group cuddling."
The plaintiffs, represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), alleged the therapy violated the state's Consumer Fraud Act because JONAH advertised a service that didn't work. The men also underwent therapy to allegedly repair the damage done by JONAH, and want those costs paid for as well.
JONAH moved to allow six experts to testify that homosexuality is a curable disorder, but the SPLC opposed the motion. The law centre argued that because gay conversion therapy is not generally accepted as a valid technique, the expert testimony should be excluded.
Judge Bariso agreed.
"The theory that homosexuality is a disorder is not novel but—like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it—instead is outdated and refuted," he wrote.
He emphatically denied JONAH's motion, calling the notion that homosexuality is "curable" an "obsolete and discredited scientific theor[y]." In a subsequent ruling, Bariso found that identifying homosexuality as an illness is a "misrepresentation."
