Texas GOP Backs Gay 'Reparative Therapy'

Texas Republicans are officially in favor of "treatment" to turn gay people straight. "We recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle," the party says in its newly approved platform. New Jersey and California have banned such counseling, a move the Texas party opposes: "No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy."

One of the platform's main supporters tells CNN it's "a freedom issue." "Nothing is mandatory," says Texas Eagle Forum head Cathie Adams, noting that the California and New Jersey bans are under litigation. "If a person chooses counseling, then it should be made available." The party didn't debate the language, which some conservatives were prepared to speak against, the AP notes. The American Medical Association and American Psychological Association are among groups opposed to such counseling, which are "based on a view of homosexuality that has been rejected by all the major mental health professions," the APA notes. (More Texas stories.)