SB 1172

Appeals court hears challenges to Calif. law that bans therapy to make gay minors straight
By Lisa Leff and Paul Elias

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California's novel law seeking to ban licensed counselors from trying to turn gay teens straight is boiling down to a question over whether the therapy is free speech or a medical treatment that can be regulated by government.

SAN FRANCISCO A federal appeals court is wrangling over the legality of California's first-in-the-nation bid to ban "sexual-orientation change" counseling of children.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday closely questioned lawyers on both sides of the issue. The judges asked whether licensed mental health professionals who offer such therapy are protected by free-speech rights, and whether they're offering medical treatment that can be regulated by the government.

Two lower courts have split on the issue.

Keynote speaker Sen. Ted W. Lieu to present update Friday, April 5

SACRAMENTO – Sen. Ted W. Lieu, who last October won a landmark victory that made California the first state to end medical practices that attempted to change a minor’s sexual orientation, will explain the background and pending legal challenges to his law during a keynote speaking appearance tomorrow at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass.

By Joel Rosenblatt and Karen Gullo

A California law prohibiting mental health providers from attempting to change the sexual orientation of patients under 18 years of age was upheld by a federal judge a day after another judge temporarily blocked the measure for three therapists in a separate case.

By Patrick Range McDonald

Update: Another federal judge in a different lawsuit over California's gay conversion therapy ban does not grant an injunction to block the law from taking effect. More after the jump.