The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) has announced that leading youth advocacy attorney Carolyn Reyes is joining the staff as Youth Policy Counsel. In this newly created position, Reyes will work on NCLR’s #BornPerfect campaign to end conversion therapy on LGBT youth, as well as other youth-related projects.
NCLR and HRC Release Sample Legislation to End Conversion Therapy on LGBTQ Youth
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and their families, and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization, released sample legislation for state legislators and equality groups who want to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy.
NCLR Applauds Obama Administration’s Groundbreaking Report on Conversion Therapy
Today the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), released “Ending Conversion Therapy: Supporting And Affirming LGBTQ Youth,” a groundbreaking new report that provides accurate information about how conversion therapy harms lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. The report was released this morning and will be discussed in depth by several of the authors this afternoon at a panel moderated by National Lesbian Rights (NCLR) #BornPerfect Campaign Coordinator and Staff Attorney Sam Ames at the Utah LGBT Summit, part of the National LGBT Rural Summit Series, hosted by the White House and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Ogden.
Illinois Becomes Fifth Jurisdiction to Protect LGBTQ Kids from Conversion Therapy
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 217 into law, making Illinois the fifth jurisdiction—behind California, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and Oregon—to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangers of conversion therapy.
NCLR Applauds American Bar Association Resolution Calling for Laws that Protect LGBTQ Youth From Conversion Therapy
The American Bar Association this week passed a resolution calling on federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to enact laws prohibiting state-licensed professionals from subjecting LGBTQ minors to conversion therapy and to protect all youth in their care from these dangerous and discredited practices.
New Jersey Jury Finds JONAH Guilty of Consumer Fraud
After hours of deliberations, a New Jersey jury found Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) liable for consumer fraud. JONAH, a group that promised gay men that it would turn them into heterosexuals, was sued by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2012 under New Jersey’s consumer fraud law.