A legal challenge to New Jersey's ban on so-called gay conversion therapy has suffered another court defeat.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a lower-court ruling in a lawsuit filed by several people including two licensed therapists who practice what are called "sexual orientation change efforts."
A federal judge in Trenton had dismissed the lawsuit last November, rejecting plaintiffs' claims that the law violates their rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.
Gov. Chris Christie signed the law last year banning the therapy for patients under 18.
In its ruling Thursday, the appeals court upheld the ban though it disagreed with the lower court's definition of verbal communication during therapy sessions as conduct and not speech.
