RBGG, representing survivors of the anti-gay therapies known as “sexual orientation change efforts” (or SOCE) and the sister of a man who committed suicide after being subjected to SOCE as a child, has filed a series of Amicus Curiae briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ninth Circuit briefs, which were filed in early February, urge the Court of Appeals to uphold California’s Senate Bill 1172. This new law protects lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth from the serious psychological harms caused by state-licensed therapists who use junk science in the guise of SOCE “therapy” to try to change their patients’ sexual orientation. Oral argument will be heard before the one panel of judges in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on April 17, 2013.
An article in The Recorder on March 11, 2013, “Circuit weighs limits on ‘therapy‘”, highlights RBGG’s representation of the SOCE survivors: “An amicus group called Survivors of SOCE, including Kendall, argue that SOCE is so pernicious, SB 1172 can meet any standard of review, including the most stringent, strict scrutiny. “The overwhelming evidence in the legislative record is more than sufficient to uphold SB 1172 on the merits,” writes their attorney, Sanford Rosen, “despite plaintiffs-appellants’ questionable constitutional challenges, and regardless of what level of scrutiny is applied by the court.”
The article concludes: “Rosen of Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld, says he’s confident of a win. He’s not worried about the disagreements over standard of review. The attorney general is being “prudently conservative” by advocating the rational basis standard — “that is what attorneys general do sometimes,” he says. It doesn’t much matter which level of review is employed, he says. “Whatever the Ninth Circuit decides, it will be fine.”
Link to full article is here: Ninth Circuit weighs limits on ‘therapy’