As
previously reported, last December a New Jersey state court issued a permanent injunction under the state's Consumer Fraud Act against JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing), prohibiting it from offering gay conversion therapy in the future. Yesterday, however,
AP reported that therapists who had been connected to JONAH have moved their work to Israel. According to AP:
Israel’s Health Ministry advises against so-called “gay conversion” or “reparative” therapy, calling it scientifically dubious and potentially dangerous, but no law limits it. In Israel, practitioners say their services are in demand, mostly by Orthodox Jewish men trying to reduce their same-sex attractions so they can marry women and raise a traditional family according to their conservative religious values.
Clients also include Jewish teenagers from the U.S. and other countries who attend post-high school study programs at Orthodox seminaries in Israel....
Proponents in Israel say therapy does not “convert” clients, but boosts self-esteem and masculinity, which they say can reduce homosexuality. In Israel, therapists say there is greater acceptance of their work than in the U.S.
