By Peter Rudegeair
Nov 27 (Reuters) - Four gay men who underwent treatment
designed to change their sexual orientation filed a lawsuit in
New Jersey on Tuesday accusing their therapists of fraud, in
what may be the first suit of its kind against conversion
therapists.
Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), a Jersey
City-based non-profit organization, falsely claimed to be able
to eliminate the four men's homosexual desires through a
scientifically proven process, according to a complaint filed in
the Superior Court of New Jersey.
JONAH clients would pay a minimum of $100 for weekly
individual counseling sessions and another $60 for group therapy
sessions.
The plaintiffs charge that during therapy sessions they were
sometimes ordered to remove all of their clothing; in other
sessions they were told to beat effigies of their mothers with
tennis rackets or were subjected to homosexual slurs, according
to the complaint.
Another JONAH client was instructed to break through a human
barricade to retrieve a pair of oranges, drink the juice from
them and place them down his pants to symbolize the recovery of
his testicles and, by extension, his heterosexuality, according
to Michael Ferguson, one of the plaintiffs.
The so-called conversion therapy that JONAH practices is
"unconscionable and a sham" and a violation of New Jersey's
consumer protection laws, said Sam Wolfe, a staff attorney at
the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the groups representing
the plaintiffs, at a press conference on Tuesday.
JONAH founder Arthur Goldberg and JONAH-affiliated counselor
Alan Downing, each of whom were also named in the suit, did not
return calls requesting comment.
Since it began operations over a decade ago, JONAH has
provided its conversion therapy to thousands of clients,
according Christine P. Sun of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Despite its name, JONAH is not a religious-based
organization, though it does target Orthodox communities in New
York and advertises in Jewish publications, Chaim Levin, one of
the plaintiffs, told reporters.
Professional groups that have been highly critical of
conversion therapy include the American Medical Association, the
World Health Organization and other peer organizations, the
complaint says. The notion that an individual's sexual
orientation can be changed has been rejected by the American
Psychiatric Association, the complaint adds.
States are beginning to take action against providers of
conversion therapy. California outlawed the practice for minors
in October, and a New Jersey state assemblyman has introduced a
bill that would do the same for his state.
The amount of damages the plaintiffs are seeking was not
specified but includes the costs of JONAH therapy sessions, the
costs of mental health services to address alleged damages from
JONAH's treatments and attorneys' fees. They are also seeking
the revocation of JONAH's business license.
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