Religious Liberty Under Fire

Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) Defends Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH)--Targeted for Helping People with Unwanted Same Sex Attractions

An unjust lawsuit was filed late last year by extremist Southern Poverty Law Center against Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH). The lawsuit is part and parcel of a deliberate campaign by gay activists and their allies to "shut down" all forms of counseling for those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions. For example, in 2012, anti-ex-gay activists achieved a significant victory in the California legislature by making it illegal for any licensed mental health practitioner to counsel a minor seeking what the American Psychological Association refers to as "sexual orientation change efforts” (SOCE).  Their plan is to introduce similar legislation in all 50 states to ban therapy for minors, and then move onto banning SOCE even for adults. Thank God, a temporary injunction has been issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the effect of the California law, giving the courts time to decide if the state has the power to dictate to professionals whether sexual orientation change can be pursued with minors.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a prominent leader the effort to ban SOCE. The SPLC has assets of in the hundreds of millions of dollars so, needless to say, it is exceedingly well-financed and not going away anytime soon. Its so-called "fighters of intolerance" are not only fueling this effort, but have opened a second front in the war against SOCE by attacking counselors who offer assistance with unwanted same-sex attractions (SSA). The SPLC recruited several young men to act as plaintiffs in the lawsuit SPLC filed against JONAH. In a separate legal action, the SPLC filed a complaint with a licensing board in Illinois against a counselor who assists men and women who wish to resolve their SSA issues.

The guts of the SPLC claim is that homosexuality is permanently fixed and that people cannot be helped in overcoming their unwanted same-sex attractions; further, that any kind of therapeutic or religious intervention to assist someone with unwanted SSA constitutes "consumer fraud."   Such claims are totally inconsistent with numerous scientific and medical opinions and studies that have found that sexual attraction is influenced by many factors, both environmental and biological. Many of the collective success stories are now living their life-long dreams, including traditional marriage and children.

Nevertheless, the goal of SPLC and its allies is to punish any individual or organization that believe that sexual orientation is mutable,  changeable, and not innate.  They want to levy heavy monetary penalties, together  with injunctive relief, in order to prevent professionals from helping SSA strugglers in the future. Most important, if the JONAH case is lost, it would clearly create a "chilling effect," both inhibiting counselors from providing such services in the future and keeping strugglers from even considering the possibility of engaging in this effort. 

Ministry leaders or pastoral counselors should NOT be under the illusion that their churches, synagogues, or other places of worship will escape this persecution. Those intent on destroying the constitutional freedoms of those who struggle against unwanted SSA and those who offer to assist such strugglers will not rest until all forms of SOCE, whether secular or religious, are  banned.  Sadly, this would ensure that no one conflicted about his or her sexuality can ever get trained, professional help to resolve their homosexual feelings and pursue heterosexuality.

To defend against this unjust lawsuit, JONAH has chosen me, as the President and Chief Counsel of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF), to represent them.  I am also involved in giving advice in the Illinois licensing case mentioned above. The mission of FCDF is to defend people whose consciences are properly formed in moral principles by providing legal services primarily at the trial court level. As is clear from the context in which this suit is brought, the issues in this case go way beyond JONAH, as a tiny faith-based ministry. JONAH just happens to be the first organization that SPLC has targeted. Ultimately, however, its intent is to deter any organization or individual counselor who is willing to help those suffering with unwanted same-sex attraction.

If the plaintiffs win this lawsuit (and they have retained eight attorneys from three law firms with an enormous "war-chest" at their disposal), they intend to use this case to make a major political statement, that is, to establish that changing sexual orientation is impossible. If they succeed in establishing the legal principle that homosexuality is fixed and "immutable," as they are attempting to do in this case, then the adverse consequences for religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and freedom of speech will be simply staggering.

We need your help and those within the pro-family community to win this case. Our team clearly needs to raise substantial funds to finance this monumental litigation.  JONAH has indicated that it picked me as lead counsel in this case because of my training and experience and my commitment to this cause, as evidenced by the thousands of pro bono hours my firm has spent on cases involving religious liberty issues. JONAH was impressed by the fact that I have thirty years of litigation experience and am double-board certified in pre-trial litigation and trial advocacy.  I also head up a national legal strike team with the Alliance Defending Freedom which was specially formed this year to tackle these culture defining issues. 

To find out more about FCDF or to help financially, click here