On Tuesday, August 20th, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into a law a bicameral bill banning the use of so-called “conversion therapy” techniques by licensed therapists on minors in attempts to change their sexual orientation.
The news was welcomed by the Rev. Diana Wilcox, Assistant Rector at St. Luke’s, Montclair and Chaplain of the Web of Life Christian Community at Montclair State University, who called the practice “a double-edged sword” for people of all ages, but particularly for young people who are still figuring out who they are.
“First, they tell you that there’s something wrong with you, and then — when (the treatments) don’t work — you feel like a failure,” she explained. “LGBT people are not born feeling ‘less than,’” she asserts, “They can often feel that way because they’ve been told they should.” In a homily given on LGBT Sunday last fall, a gay student member of her young congregation at Montclair State shared that he tried twice in high school to commit suicide.
