ADDED:

Please note that I do not endorse JONAH or its individual practices/therapies in any way.

My point is simply that free speech is routinely curbed in the West, so to claim it is an inviolable principle is misleading.

Note also that a JONAH  counselor has been charged with abuse of clients by noted pro-gay activist, Wayne Besen.

[Wayne Besen is a prominent critic of the “ex-gay” movement and was instrumental in attacking many conservative/Republican figures through ex-gay associates.]

See this blog for a fascinating exchange in which Besen slipped and admitted that in diagnostic classification by the APA (American Psychological Association) in 1973, homosexuality was dropped as a mental illness simply because of political pressure, not science.

Note that the exchange was scrubbed from Besen’s site and is only available now because the blogger preserved it on his site.

In connection to that, note that the  judge in the JONAH lawsuit (Hudson County (NJ) Superior Court Judge, Peter Bariso Jr) has also made it “fraudulent” for reparative therapists to offer statistics of success or use client testimony.

In other words, the court has banned evidence that contradicts the preferred political position of the ruling classes.

Final point. The plaintiff in the case against JONAH is none other than the notorious Southern Poverty Law Center, a self-styled anti-bigotry watch-dog that engages in one of the few bigotries that remains acceptable today – prejudice against conservative religious beliefs.

The SPLC has called the Christian organization, Focus on the Family, a “hate” group simply because it advocates traditional Christian positions.

Meanwhile, the head of the SPLC, Morris Dees, who has made a career of bankrupting outfits that he targets as “hate-filled,” is himself a multi-millionaire.

And, at least according to papers filed by his former wife, moral crusader Dees is prone to violence and other abusive actions, to put it delicately.

Gory details, for those so inclined, can be found here. Caveat lector. It is a divorce proceeding, after all.

ORIGINAL POST

A US court has ruled that JONAH, a Jewish group that  offers reparative therapy to homosexuals, is committing a violation of the Consumer Fraud Act.

However, if Jonah were simply calling homosexuality “disordered” and prohibited by religion, the court conceded, the group might be afforded First Amendment protection.

So much for the endlessly hyped dogma that free speech is sacred in the West.

Bah, humbug.