After Friday’s historic U.S. Supreme Court victory for same-sex marriage, the notion that gays and lesbians need to be “cured” might seem like a quaint anachronism. Not so for five plaintiffs in New Jersey, who spent the last three weeks in trial against a nonprofit that took their money with the promise of purging their homosexuality.
On Thursday a state court jury in Jersey City resoundingly sided with the plaintiffs, who had allegedly endured treatments such as violent role-play and being forced to undress in front of counselors. The jury found that Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) had violated state consumer fraud and business practices laws and ordered the group to pay $72,400 in damages. (Our affiliate the New Jersey Law Journal has a full report on the verdict.)
