Jersey City – Jury Finds Promise Of ‘Gay Conversion’ Therapy Was A Fraud

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    FILE - FILE - David Dinielli delivers the opening statements for the plaintiff in a fraud trial against Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, (JONAH) Wednesday, June 3, 2015, in Jersey City, N.J. The nonprofit New Jersey based group that promised to turn gays heterosexual instead offered "junk science" and lies, Dinielli told jurors Wednesday during opening statements in the fraud trial involving so-called gay conversion therapy. (Alex Remnick/The Star-Ledger via AP, Pool)  Jersey City – A nonprofit organization that claimed it could turn gay men straight violated the state’s Consumer Fraud Act, a jury found Thursday in a civil trial that an attorney for the plaintiffs called “a momentous event” for LGBT rights.

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    The seven-member jury found that Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, its co-founder, Arthur Goldberg, and counselor Alan Downing made misrepresentations and engaged in unconscionable business practices.

    Three men and two parents were awarded about $72,000 in damages. The judge will rule later on their request to revoke the company’s license, plaintiffs’ attorneys said.

    “This is a momentous event in the history of LGBT rights,” attorney David Dinielli said. “The same lies that motivate gay conversion therapy motivate homophobia — that gay people are broken and need to be fixed. The strength of our plaintiffs brought that to light.”

    Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued during the trial that the group, known by the acronym JONAH, claimed a success rate that wasn’t backed up by actual statistics and used therapy methods that had no scientific basis, including having one client beat a pillow, meant to represent his mother, with a tennis racket.

    Defense attorney Charles LiMandri couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

    LiMandri argued during the trial that JONAH didn’t make guarantees and should be allowed to offer help to people struggling with their sexuality. He also said none of the plaintiffs complained about the therapy during or immediately after participating in it and sued only after connecting with activists who wanted to shut JONAH down.

    “Sometimes you need distance to survey the wreckage,” plaintiff Michael Ferguson, who was raised as a Mormon and sought out JONAH in 2008, said after Thursday’s verdict.

    The trial began this month and featured testimony from the men about the group’s methods, which they said included engaging in role play that involved a locker room scene where gay slurs were used. JONAH presented witnesses who said the therapy helped them overcome their same-sex attractions.

    But Goldberg acknowledged during cross-examination that the group claimed a “success” rate of 65 to 75 percent to turn gay men to straight even though it didn’t keep its own statistics and relied on anecdotal evidence from counselors.

    The original four plaintiffs, Ferguson and three from Orthodox Jewish families, alleged the nonprofit exploited them with false promises as they struggled with their same-sex attractions in strict religious environments where they were expected to marry women and have children.

    One man dropped out of the suit, but his mother remained.

    Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed a law in 2013 banning licensed therapists from practicing conversion therapy in New Jersey. Two court challenges to the ban, one by a couple and their son and one by a group that included two licensed therapists, were dismissed by a federal judge. Those decisions were later affirmed by a federal appeals court.

    New Jersey’s ban wasn’t an issue during the trial because Goldberg and Downing aren’t licensed therapists, Dinielli said.


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    19 Comments
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    commonsense99
    commonsense99
    8 years ago

    Correct desigion for these snake oil salemen, I think being gay comes from crossing a bridge while you a fetus, therefore walk across a bridge 50 time and your cured.
    PS alcoholism can be cure by swimming under a bridge

    ModernLakewoodGuy
    ModernLakewoodGuy
    8 years ago

    Good. They should be thrown in jail for the harm they have done to all these teenagers

    Anominous
    Anominous
    8 years ago

    Why in the world is the identity of the victims revealed? Why do they have to go through the busha of the frum world knowing they have homo tendencies?

    If someone doesn’t want his daughter to marry someone like them or similar, tell her to ask explicitly if he has issues, or to say please drop me for some reason if you do have or suspect to have issues.

    There is an institution in Israel that matches gays with lesbians and they make families, understanding each other.

    ProKevodHashem
    ProKevodHashem
    8 years ago

    Mr. Modern, did you actually sit in the courtroom and listen to the plaintiffs themselves how happy they where when they got the help? You make it sound as if Jonah abused some teenagers. This is not the case. They all came for the same reason. They knew that this behavior is wrong and as Frum Yiden they just wanted help. And help they got.
    It’s like an alcoholic that checks himself in to a clinic to help him get sober because he’s afraid of destroying his family. And he’s all happy after being sober for a while even though he went through some rigid tough treatments, but he’s still happy and thankful that he’s sober and move on in life. After a while for whatever reason his wife divorces him and his life for miserable and Jack Daniels became his friend again… And he’s ok now being a drunk… One day he runs out of $$ so he gets a lawyer from a pro alcoholic group and files a lawsuit against the clinic that great him so well, because now that he doesn’t mind being an addict he regrets the touch treatment he went thru in the past…
    This is exactly what happened in this case. No one was harmed. The only one that are against these organizations like Jonah, are people who want to be part of the gay movement. But that is their agenda. It has nothing to do with truth.

    bewhiskered
    bewhiskered
    8 years ago

    Since my initial post never made it, let me give it one more shot.

    This verdict is no surprise at all:

    “Facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison, in July 1989 (Arthur) Goldberg (founder of Jonah) pleaded guilty in a Los Angeles federal court to three counts of mail fraud. Later that month, he pleaded guilty in an East St. Louis federal court to one count of conspiracy to defraud. In October 1989 Goldberg was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and five years’ probation. He was also fined $400,000 (later reduced to $100,000 on appeal). In a separate action, the Securities and Exchange Commission banned Goldberg from the securities industry for life and ordered Matthews & Wright (Goldberg’s firm) to permanently close its doors.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_A._Goldberg

    The תורה refers to משכב זכר as a תועבה. But, the תורה refers to כל עושה עול (thievery) as a תועבה as well. After being convicted and spending time in prison, this jailbird carnival snake oil peddler Goldberg had the audacity to show his face in public again. קצתי בחיי.

    כי תועבת ה’ א-לקיך כל עשה אלה כל עשה עול

    Normal
    Normal
    8 years ago

    Don’t know why it’s called a non-profit when the victims were paying tens of thousands of dollars for the ‘treatment’. That money had to go somewhere, they had very few expenses, except tennis raquets etc.

    lazerx
    lazerx
    8 years ago

    were the people of JONAH con-men or just trying to do good?

    I think they were not out to con anyone out of money but rather they got carried away thinking that ‘tracht gut and zein gut’ thinking positive will bring positive results.

    8 years ago

    Very sad. With gay members of my close family (who are always welcome in our home) I find this scam perpetrated on these unhappy people abhorrent. I hope they are at peace with themselves, as my family members are. Do I support their lifestyle? Absolutely not, & they know it. But we are very very close because we treat every Yid as a brother/sister. It’s called Ahavat Yisrael. Try it sometime.

    8 years ago

    What about the program that unbrainwashes the mashicnistin? Is that consumer fraud too?