NEW YORK -- The fight against a controversial therapy that purports to "cure" gay people of their gayness and make them straight has come to New York.

The therapy has been around for decades, but has come under increased scrutiny in the last few years as gay rights supporters have argued it doesn't work and may cause great harm to those who undergo it. Over the past several years, the entire mainstream mental health community has renounced it, and politicians in several states have taken steps to restrict it.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today will hear the challenge to California’s law that bans “ex-gay therapy” for minors.

Senate Bill 1172 was signed into law last fall by Gov. Jerry Brown, who praised the measure for protecting LGBT young people from dangerous practices called conversion therapy and reparative therapy. The therapy uses shame, verbal abuse and same-sex aversion techniques, and the success rate is considered nil.

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Jacob Rudolph, the LGBT teen from New Jersey who came out at a school awards ceremony, testified before a state Senate committee on Monday, calling for a statewide ban on gay-to-straight conversion therapy.

A panel of mental health experts, human rights advocates, religious leaders and a former patient gathered Thursday at the United Nations Church Center to discuss a controversial therapy that claims to "cure" gay people and make them straight. Although such practices have been around for decades, the concept has come under increased scrutiny over the last five years as lawsuits and litigation attempt to curb the "conversion therapy" and the mainstream mental health profession renounces it.