On Monday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill banning teenagers from undergoing reparative therapy, the practice of allegedly converting a person's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.
New Jersey is the second state after California to ban so-called "gay conversion therapy." The bill passed both houses of the New Jersey Legislature with bipartisan support in June. Openly gay Assemblyman Tim Eustace sponsored the bill, describing the therapy as "an insidious form of child abuse."
Previously, Christie stated that while he opposes the practice, he did not want the government to interfere with parents' personal child care decisions, reports ABC News. However, in a note accompanying the bill, the Catholic governor said he believes people are born gay and that homosexuality is not a sin.
The Republican governor also said the health risks of trying to change a child's sexual orientation, as identified by the American Psychological Association, outweigh concerns of the government setting limits on parental choice.
"However, I also believe that on the issues of medical treatment for children we must look to experts in the field to determine the relative risks and rewards," Christie said, according to the Associated Press. "I believe that exposing children to these health risks without clear evidence of benefits that outweigh these serious risks is not appropriate."
Gay rights activists applauded the ban but pushed for more.
"It is our truest hope that the governor will realize, as the majority of the legislature and a super-majority of the pubic have realized, that the best way to ensure lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender youth are protected from the abuse of being ostracized is to provide them with equality," Troy Stevenson, executive director of the state's largest gay rights group, Garden State Equality, said in a statement.
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