10:30am | Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal has introduced a bill that would repeal a section of the California Welfare and Institutions code, which instructs the State Department of Mental Health to conduct research into the “causes and cures of homosexuality.” The Bill – AB 2199 – would repeal a particularly offensive section of the California Welfare and Institutions code which was placed into law in 1967.
As a mental health professional, Bonnie Lowenthal recognizes that the mere existence of this language in our code of law cause harm, even if it hasn’t been followed for years. The language of the section of the W & I Code lumps the need for finding a cure for homosexuality in with “deviations conducive to sex crimes against children” and “methods of identifying potential sex offenders.”
“This section of the code is deplorable — it propagates blatantly false, harmful and outdated misrepresentations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and it should have been repealed long ago,” said Geoff Kors, executive director of the state-wide organization, Equality California, a co-sponsor of the bill.