BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1172
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 26, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Mary Hayashi, Chair
SB 1172 (Lieu) - As Amended: May 25, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 23-13
SUBJECT : Sexual orientation change efforts.
SUMMARY : Prohibits a mental health provider, as defined, from
engaging in sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), with a
patient less than 18 years of age. Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines "mental health provider" as a physician and surgeon
specializing in the practice of psychiatry, a psychologist, a
psychologist assistant, licensed marriage and family therapist
(MFT), MFT intern or trainee, a licensed educational
psychologists (LEP), licensed clinical social worker (LCSW),
and associate clinical social worker (ACSW), a licensed
professional clinical counselor (LPCC) or a registered
clinical counselor, intern or trainee.
2)Defines "SOCE" as the practice by mental health providers that
seek to change orientation or reduce or eliminate sexual or
romantic attractions, feelings, or behaviors because those
attractions, feelings, or behaviors are directed toward
persons of a particular sex or both sexes.
3)States that "SOCE" does not include psychotherapies that aim
to provide acceptance, support, and understanding of clients
or the facilitation of clients' coping, social support, and
identity exploration and development, without seeking to
change orientation or reduce or eliminate sexual or romantic
attractions, feelings, or behaviors because those attractions,
feelings, or behaviors are directed toward persons of a
particular sex or both sexes.
4)Prohibits under any circumstances, a mental health provider,
as defined, from engaging in SOCE with a patient under 18
years of age regardless of the willingness of a patient,
patient's parent, guardian, conservator, or other person to
authorize such efforts.
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5)Makes findings and declarations of the Legislature regarding
SOCE.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines "psychotherapy," as practiced by licensed
psychologists, to mean the use of psychological methods in a
professional relationship to assist a person or persons to
acquire greater human effectiveness or to modify feelings,
conditions, attitudes and behavior which are emotionally,
intellectually, or socially ineffectual or maladjustive.
2)Defines "psychotherapy," as practiced by LCSW, to mean the use
of psychological methods within a professional relationship to
assist a person to achieve a better psychological adaptation,
acquire greater human realization of psychological potential
and adaptation, modify internal and external conditions which
affect individuals, groups or communities regarding behavior,
emotions, and thinking in respect to their intrapersonal and
interpersonal process.
3)Specifies that the application of social work principles and
methods includes but is not restricted to counseling and using
applied psychotherapy, as specified.
4)Requires for licensure as a MFT specified training and
coursework in psychotherapy.
5)Specifies that the application of marriage and family therapy
principles and methods includes, but is not limited to, the
use of applied psychotherapeutic techniques to enable
individuals to mature and grow within marriage and family
therapy.
6)Defines "professional clinical counseling" as the application
of counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic techniques
to identify and remediate cognitive, mental, and emotional
issues, including personal growth, adjustment to disability,
crisis intervention, and psychosocial and environmental
problems.
7)Requires an applicant for examination eligibility, for LPCC,
to possess a master's or doctoral degree that is counseling or
psychotherapy in content, as specified.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author, "this bill
establishes first-in-the-nation protections for youths Ýfrom]
dangerous so-called therapies that aim to change a person's
sexual orientation. This bill seeks to provide protections for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) youth by
preventing these types of pseudo-therapies that are potentially
dangerous. Practitioners may also try to alter a patient's
sexuality with visualization, social skills training,
psychoanalytic therapy, and spiritual inventions. Many SOCE
patients report negative social and emotional consequences such
as anger, anxiety, confusion, depression, guilt, hopelessness,
and deteriorated relationships with family, loss of social
support, sexual dysfunction, and even suicide."
Background . SOCE is sometimes called reparative therapy or
conversion therapy. It is an attempt to change the sexual
orientation of a person from homosexual or bisexual to
heterosexual. This type of therapy has sparked a national
debate about the scientific relevance and the effectiveness of
the therapy.
On May 17, 2012, the Pan American Health Organization released a
position statement on the use of SOCE. The statement calls on
governments, academic institutions, professional associations
and the media to expose these practices and to promote respect
for diversity. In the statement, it concluded that "efforts
aimed at changing non-heterosexual sexual orientations lack
medical justification since homosexuality cannot be considered a
pathological condition. There is a professional consensus that
homosexuality represents a natural variation of human sexuality
without any intrinsically harmful effect on the health of those
concerned or those close to them. In none of its individual
manifestations does homosexuality constitute a disorder or an
illness, and therefore it requires no cure. For this reason
homosexuality was removed from the relevant systems of
classifications of diseases several decades ago."
The statement further provided recommendations to governments,
academic institutions, professional associations, and the media
with respect to understanding, dealing with and responding to
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the utilization of SOCE.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA),
"lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations are not disorders.
Research has found no inherent association between any of these
sexual orientations and psychopathology. Both heterosexual
behavior and homosexual behavior are normal aspects of human
sexuality. Despite the persistence of stereotypes that portray
lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as disturbed, several decades
of research and clinical experience have led all mainstream
medical and mental health organizations in this country to
conclude that these orientations represent normal forms of human
experience. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual relationships are normal
forms of human bonding. Therefore, these mainstream
organizations long ago abandoned classifications of
homosexuality as a mental disorder."
In 2007, the APA established a task force on the Appropriate
Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation. The APA released a
summary statement from the task force's findings that concluded,
"the task force conducted a systematic review of the
peer-reviewed journal literature on SOCE and concluded that
efforts to change sexual orientation are unlikely to be
successful and involve some risk of harm, contrary to the claims
of SOCE practitioners and advocates. Even though the research
and clinical literature demonstrate that same-sex sexual and
romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors are normal and
positive variations of human sexuality, regardless of sexual
orientation identity, the task force concluded that the
population that undergoes SOCE tends to have strongly
conservative religious views that lead them to seek to change
their sexual orientation. Thus, the appropriate application of
affirmative therapeutic interventions for those who seek SOCE
involves therapist acceptance, support, and understanding of
clients and the facilitation of clients' active coping, social
support, and identity exploration and development, without
imposing a specific sexual orientation identity outcome."
As stated in the Findings and Declarations of this bill, there
are numerous other organizations that have taken similar
positions on the effectiveness, need, usefulness and problematic
results that may occur from the utilization of such therapy and
practices.
The National Association for Research Therapy of Homosexuality
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(NARTH) is a group of psychologists and analysts that view
homosexuality as a dysfunction that can be changed. According
to NARTH"s statement on "the right to treatment," "NARTH seeks
to support the many homosexual men and women who are profoundly
distressed by their condition. Homosexuality is experienced by
them as completely contrary to their value system and their
conviction that all men and women would normally be heterosexual
were it not for disturbances in their early lives. We
acknowledge that many homosexual men and women do not wish to
change their psychosexual adaptation, and we respect their
wishes not to seek therapy. Furthermore we do not wish to
diminish the rights of homosexually oriented people in society.
However, we believe that treatment should be offered to those
who voluntarily seek it. NARTH works to protect the rights of
clients who do seek treatment, as well as the rights of the
therapists who treat them. Therapy is aimed at decreasing
unwanted homosexual attractions and increasing heterosexual
responsiveness, with the understanding that substantial change
will require a long-term growth process."
This bill would not be the first law in California to restrict a
specified treatment on a minor. In 1976, California passed a
law, that among other things, prohibited psychosurgery on a
minor, under specified conditions.
Support . The sponsor, Equality California writes in support,
"SOCE poses a critical health risks to lesbian, gay, and
bisexual people. Recognizing that there is no evidence that any
type of psychotherapy can change a person's sexual orientation
and that SOCE may cause serious and lasting harms, the American
Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association,
the American Counseling Association, the National Association of
Social Workers, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have
issued cautionary statements regarding these controversial
practices. Minors who experience family rejection based on
their sexual orientations face especially serious health risks."
The California Community of Mental Health Communities writes in
support, "SOCE poses critical health and mental health risks to
LGBT people, including depression, shame, decreased self-esteem,
social withdrawal, substance abuse, risky behavior, and
suicidality. There is virtually no credible evidence that any
type of psychotherapy can change a person's sexual orientation,
and, in fact, SOCE may cause serious and lasting harms. Nearly
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all the nation's leading mental health associations, including
the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological
Association, the American Counseling Association, the National
Association of Social Workers, and the American Academy for
Marriage and Family Therapy have studied SOCE and issued
cautionary position statements on its utilization."
The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy,
California Division, writes in support, "Ýthis bill] would bar
mental health professionals in California from the practice of
SOCE, also referred to as reparative therapy, with clients under
the age of 18. In a position statement on such therapies in
2009, the AAMFT noted, the association does not consider
homosexuality a disorder that requires treatment, and as such,
we see no basis for such therapy."
Opposition . The Catholic Medical Association writes in
opposition, "Ýthis bill], if enacted, would substantially
infringe upon a patient's right to seek and receive treatment,
and would substantially interfere with the doctor-patient
relationship. The fact that some individuals oppose SOCE, or
that some individuals have had unsatisfactory experiences with
their therapists, can in no way justify the harms that would
result from denying patients their fundamental rights."
The American College of Pediatricians writes in opposition,
"children and young adults, who question their sexuality, have a
right to explore SOCE with full informed consent and under the
care of mental health experts in the field."
The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists,
the California Psychological Association, the California
Psychiatric Association and the California Association for
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors are opposed unless
amended and write, "we wish to convey our joint position of
oppose unless amended on Ýthis bill]. We believe the bill, as
drafted, would inhibit and prevent attempts by therapists to
legitimately explore sexual identity and gender concerns. As
written, the definition of SOCE is ambiguous and vague as to
what kinds of therapy conceptually fall under the definition of
SOCE."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
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Equality California (sponsor)
Gaylesta (co-sponsor)
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, California
Division
California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies
City of Los Angeles
City of West Hollywood
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
National Association of Social Workers-California Chapter
Women's Therapy Center
Numerous individuals
Opposition
American College of Pediatricians
Board of Behavioral Sciences
California Association for Licensed Professional Clinical
Counselors
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
California Catholic Conference
California Psychiatric Association
California Psychological Association
Catholic Medical Association
Church State Council
International Institute for Reorientation Therapies
National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality
Pacific Justice Institute
Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays
People Can Change
Traditional Values Coalition
Numerous individuals
Analysis Prepared by : Elissa Silva / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301