Court Rejects Challenges To New Jersey Ban On Conversion Therapy for Minors

In King v. Christie, (D NJ, Nov. 8, 2013), a New Jersey federal district court dismissed a challenge to the state's ban on sexual-orientation change therapy for minors.  It held that psychotherapy carried out through talk therapy is not speech under the 1st Amendment.  Instead it is conduct.  In so holding, the court in part pointed to the 9th Circuit's recent decision upholding a similar California statute. The court went on to reject claims that the New Jersey statute is overbroad and vague.  Finally the court rejected the claim that the New Jersey statute violates the Free Exercise clause by preventing mental health providers from exercising their sincerely held religious beliefs that changing same-sex attraction or behavior is possible. The court concluded that the statute is a neutral law of general applicability. The Newark Star Ledger reports on the decision.