The administration of newly elected New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will be challenged in their next term by a new lawsuit filed by a couple who claims the law prohibiting conversion therapy for their 15 year-old son is a violation of their constitutional rights.

The Associated Press is reporting that the couple, who are withholding their names, are challenging a law signed by Gov. Christie in August that bars licensed therapists from trying to change the sexual orientation of minors. The governor signed it into law citing health risks associated with this therapy.

According to the filing, which was made in Camden on November 1, the teen suffers from “unwanted gender identity disorder and unwanted same-sex attractions.”

The boy began to develop feelings of same-sex attraction at the age of 12 or 13, at times wished he was a girl, and eventually developed depression and thoughts of suicide.

The complaint states that the teen has “frequently thought of killing himself because he did not like himself. . .He remembers having a bias against the male gender and thinking boys were stupid because his mother talked negatively about his father. . . . He experienced feelings of despair because he believed that he would never be good enough if he remained a boy.”

The New Jersey Star Ledger reports that in 2011, the boy started meeting with a licensed social worker in New York, who “helped him tremendously” to reduce his homosexual urges. The social worker recommended that he meet with a licensed psychotherapist. The family contacted Ronald Newman, a well-known therapist with expertise in this area, but they were told that a law had been passed prohibiting this kind of therapy.

In addition to the boy’s personal conflicts, the lawsuit contends that “John Doe has a sincerely held religious belief and conviction that homosexuality is wrong and immoral, and he wanted to address that value conflict because his unwanted same-sex attractions and gender confusion are contrary to the fundamental religious values that he holds.”

By denying their son this opportunity for relief, the couple is claiming that the law violates their right to free speech, freedom of religion, and their right to equal protection because it denies “minors the opportunity to pursue a particular course of action that can help them address the conflicts between their religious and moral values and same-sex attractions, behaviors or identity.”

Demetrios Stratis, the attorney representing the couple, said another rationale for challenging the law is the fact that it relies on faulty or incomplete research, most of which was done on adults rather than minors.

“The Legislature, in enacting this legislation, relied on reports that this was harmful,” Stratis said. “We believe that the literature and reports are not accurate and what the legislation relied on is erroneous and that there are constitutional implications.”

Stratis is also representing the therapist, Ronald Newman of Linwood, New Jersey, another therapist named Tara King from Brick, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, and the American Association for of Christian Counselors in a separate lawsuit challenging the ban.

The couple is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the law from being enforced. A federal judge is expected to issue a ruling on the injunction by Dec. 2.

A constitutional challenge to a similar law passed in California last year was unsuccessful.

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