In The News

By Wayne Besen

Reparative therapy, which seeks to "cure" homosexuality, is a destructive form of consumer fraud, where avaricious practitioners try to profit off their victims by instilling a deep sense of shame and guilt. There is not one shard of evidence supporting such efforts, while there is a long trail of blood and tears from the human casualties who bought into the lie that they were abnormal and needed to be converted into heterosexuals.

Gay conversion "therapy" is ineffective and harmful, The Times acknowledges in a May 11 editorial. Still, the editorial board opposes a bill in the state Senate to protect Californians from this dangerous practice.

By Greg Lucas

David Pickup says conversion therapy was so effective in overcoming his “homoerotic attractions” that he himself is now a Glendale-based practitioner trying to help others change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.

 “Like most guys who deal with these issues, I’m still on my journey. I was depressed years and years ago, clinically depressed and I’m not anymore,” says Pickup.

By Ted W. Lieu

In celebration of National Women's History Month, each member of the California Assembly and Senate may honor a woman from his or her district. This profiles Ted W. Lieu's choice, Donna Duperron.

When Donna Duperron was in the third grade, she would gather up the neighborhood children and `play' school, complete with worksheets and lessons on counting or learning the ABCs.

By Clay Duda

If passed, a California law will make it the first state in the nation to ban controversial therapy aimed at turning gay and lesbian teens straight.

State Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), sponsor of the bill, said the so-called reparative therapy wrongly treats homosexuality as a disease and can be harmful to minors.