JONAH / Clinical-Pretense Conversion Therapy

JONAH was co-founded and led by Arthur Goldberg, with life coach Alan Downing as the central program facilitator who personally directed therapy and retreats [Wikipedia 2019][NBC News 2019]. Goldberg's professional counselor license had actually been revoked in 2011, yet he remained the organization's authoritative figurehead [Wikipedia 2019]. Downing was the charismatic 'Senior Facilitator' who led Journey Into Manhood weekends [Wikipedia 2019]. Goldberg told clients that homosexuality was an unnatural disorder caused by past wounds in childhood, positioning himself as the expert with therapeutic techniques founded in science [The Guardian 2015]. Downing charged $100 for each one-on-one counseling session and $60 for group sessions, alongside the organization's nonprofit registration [Newsweek 2015]. Even after the 2015 verdict, Goldberg and Elaine Berk created a new nonprofit, the Jewish Institute for Global Awareness (JIFGA), continuing their leadership roles [Quartz 2015]. Rabbi Simcha Feuerman noted that Goldberg initially signed a declaration endorsing the ideology, though he later faced scrutiny regarding his credentials [JTA 2015].

JONAH required clients to accept the sacred, scientifically unsupported premise that homosexuality is not innate but a curable 'spiritual ailment' rooted in childhood trauma, framed through the Jewish concept of teshuvah (repentance/return) [Wikipedia 2019][SPLC 2015]. The New Jersey jury found this core claim fraudulent, but acceptance of it was the shared belief underpinning all participation [Wikipedia 2019]. The organization's ideology was backed by a document called the 'Torah Declaration,' signed by over two hundred Orthodox rabbis and communal leaders, which endorsed the belief that homosexuality could be changed [Tablet Magazine 2015]. Goldberg stated that homosexuality was an unnatural disorder caused by past wounds in childhood and that therapeutic techniques founded in science could reverse it [The Guardian 2015]. A memoir by 'former homosexual' David DeJacomo, who testified on JONAH's behalf, reflects the group's internal narrative of spiritual healing and change [ThinkProgress 2015]. The program's premise was that conversion therapy could alter a person's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual, a claim widely discredited by medical organizations [Wikipedia 2019].

The program framed itself as 'healing' a fundamental defect and achieving change of sexual orientation, a transcendent personal/spiritual transformation that justified painful and degrading exercises [Newsweek 2015][Wikipedia 2019]. Clients were told the suffering (cutting off mothers, beating effigies until hands bled, public nudity) was necessary to reach the goal of becoming heterosexual [Newsweek 2015]. The organization claimed to provide services that 'convert' people from gay to straight, framing this as a path to an 'ideal self' [SPLC 2015][Ban Conversion Practices]. After the 2015 injunction, JONAH continued to promote and facilitate conversion therapy through referrals, asserting the mission remained valid [SPLC 2019]. The program's CEO in London told clients that everyone has an 'ideal self' and that conversion could help achieve this, reinforcing the transcendent goal [Ban Conversion Practices]. Despite court orders, the group continued to operate under the new name JIFGA, maintaining the same mission of changing sexual orientation [ThinkProgress 2015].

Participants were required to suppress and renounce their own sexual identity as a disorder to be eradicated, conforming to a prescribed model of masculinity [Wikipedia 2019][Mic 2015]. Exercises such as undressing before mirrors and other men, recreating childhood trauma, and 'healthy touch' cuddling demanded surrender of personal boundaries to the program's normative goals [Mic 2015]. The cost of these services could exceed $10,000 per year depending on the individual, reflecting the extensive investment required to conform [Casetext 2015]. Unger testified that when he raised concerns with the JONAH program, the co-founder belittled him, and the group disregarded his experience because it did not fit their model [SPLC 2019]. The program's methods were deemed 'unconscionable commercial practice, deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, and misrepresentation' for claiming scientific validity [Casetext 2015]. Clients were told they had an 'ideal self' and that conversion could help them achieve it, requiring them to suppress their current identity [Ban Conversion Practices].

Downing determined that some clients' family relationships were 'too close' and instructed them to cut off contact with their mothers for several months [Mic 2015][Wikipedia 2019]. This deliberate severing of close outside relationships is documented as part of the program's method [Mic 2015]. In 2007, a teenager in an ultra-orthodox Jewish community felt his attraction to men was incompatible with his understanding, and isolation from family was part of the struggle leading to JONAH [Quartz 2015]. The Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America issued a statement in 2012 indicating it did not endorse JONAH's methods, partly due to concerns about family isolation [Wikipedia 2019]. The program's method involved making referrals to therapy practitioners, which could include isolating clients from supportive environments [Newsweek 2015].

The program used a distinctive in-group vocabulary, including 'healthy touch' for prolonged male cuddling, 'reparative/reorientation therapy,' and ex-gay movement terms tied to 'Journey Into Manhood' weekends [Newsweek 2015][Mic 2015]. These euphemistic terms reframed degrading practices as therapeutic milestones [Mic 2015]. Arthur Goldberg often boasted that Downing was 'an expert in the field' of turning gay men straight, using therapy-speak to validate his claims [Newsweek 2015]. The term 'Journey Into Manhood' was used to describe weekend retreats focused on masculinity and conversion [Mic 2015]. Therapy jargon was used to describe clinical modalities, such as 'boundaries' and 'ideal self,' which were integral to the program's narrative [Ban Conversion Practices].

JONAH framed homosexuality as a brokenness/'led astray' state requiring repentance, casting an in-group of those pursuing 'healing' against an outside gay world depicted as the source of dysfunction and trauma [Wikipedia 2019][Tablet Magazine 2015]. This pathologizing dichotomy positioned participants against their prior identities and communities [Wikipedia 2019]. The Southern Poverty Law Center argued that JONAH's method relies on therapy widely discredited as ineffective and harmful, based on the premise that homosexuality is a disorder [Campbell Law Observer]. The Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America stated in 2012 that it did not endorse JONAH's methods, reinforcing the distinction between the group's ideology and mainstream religious views [Wikipedia 2019]. Goldberg told clients that homosexuality was unnatural and caused by childhood wounds, creating a clear 'us vs. them' narrative [The Guardian 2015].

The defendants will be held liable for the remainder of the sum awarded by the court four years ago, including $3.5 million in damages [NBC News 2019]. The 2015 settlement called for JONAH founders Arthur Goldberg and Elaine Berk to pay $3.5 million, but they negotiated it down to $400,000 in exchange for reduced penalties [nj.com 2021]. SPLC stated that JONAH preyed on and exploited vulnerable young men, charging fees for services that were fraudulent [SPLC 2015]. The organization was ordered to pay restitution to the plaintiffs and shut down within thirty days, reflecting the exploitation of client labor and resources [Wikipedia 2019]. The cost of services could exceed $10,000 per year, indicating significant financial exploitation [Casetext 2015].

Exit costs were psychological and financial: clients invested heavily in fees ($100/individual session, $60/group, up to $700 retreats) and were told failure to change reflected their own inadequacy, inducing shame [Mic 2015][Wikipedia 2019]. Plaintiffs reported lasting psychological harm, with one requiring subsequent mental health counseling for which the jury awarded compensation [Mic 2015][Wikipedia 2019]. The defendants violated a 2015 injunction and settlement agreement, continuing to offer conversion therapy and increasing exit costs for those who sought to leave [SPLC 2019]. JONAH simply changed its name and continued to offer — and profit from — conversion therapy, making it harder for clients to exit without financial or legal repercussions [ThinkProgress 2015]. The group settled with former clients in a 2015 lawsuit and agreed to stop its discredited gay conversion counseling, but continued operations under JIFGA, complicating exit [Times of Israel 2015][Haaretz 2019].

After being found liable and ordered to dissolve, JONAH's leadership reincorporated 11 days later as JIFGA, keeping the same assets, leadership, address, and phone number to continue operations in defiance of the court [SPLC 2019][Wikipedia 2019]. In 2019 Judge Bariso found this an illegitimate evasion of his order and imposed a $3.5 million fine, evidence of escalating defiance as the organization's legal endgame closed in [SPLC 2019][NBC News 2019]. The court claimed that JONAH had committed fraud by offering services that claimed to cure homosexuality, yet the group continued under a new name [NBC News 2019]. On June 25, 2015, after a three-week trial, the jury unanimously found the defendants liable for consumer fraud and unconscionable business practices [Wikipedia 2019]. Jonah had been found guilty of committing consumer fraud and engaging in 'unconscionable commercial practices' in June, but continued operations [The Guardian 2015]. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the New Jersey conversion therapy organization for fraudulent practices, but the group evaded closure [SPLC 2015].