Christie Sued Over Ban on Gay Conversion Therapy

Chris Christie is expected to easily win a second term as New Jersey governor today, but he'll have a fresh lawsuit waiting when he gets back to his desk. A couple is suing the governor for signing a law that bans therapists from trying to turn gay teens straight, the Star-Ledger reports. The couple's complaint says a social worker helped their 15-year-old "tremendously" reduce homosexual urges, but the law has prevented them from taking him to a "gay conversion" therapist in the state.

The family tried the services of an unlicensed Catholic counselor, but that only added to the boy's stress and depression, the lawsuit states. The chief of a civil rights group that pushed for the ban—the second in the nation, after California's—says the group "anticipated a small but vocal minority would want to continue this horrible and abusive practice" and plans to fight to protect the ban. "It is vital that people learn to accept their children for who they are rather than subjecting them to disproven junk science, that does nothing but inflict horrific emotional damage on our youth," he says. (More Chris Christie stories.)