UPDATE: Judge Refuses To Block California Gay Therapy Law
AN FRANCISCO (AP) — For the second time in two days, a federal judge in California has issued a decision on the state's first-of-its-kind law prohibiting licensed psychotherapists from trying to change the sexual orientations of gay minors.
U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller issued a ruling Tuesday that will allow the ban on "conversion" therapy to take effect on Jan. 1.
Her ruling came in a lawsuit filed by four counselors, two families, a professional organization for practitioners and a Christian therapists group seeking to overturn the law.
On Monday night, Mueller's colleague, U.S. District Judge William Shubb, handed down a somewhat competing ruling.
He granted a request by two mental health providers and a former patient to be immune from the law until their lawsuit seeking to overturn it on First Amendment grounds can be heard next year.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
