California is quickly becoming America’s most Christophobic state. And at the same time, it is becoming the most pro-homosexual state. Sure, there are plenty of the other 49 states in competition with California to take out this ‘honour.’ But as has often been said, California is a land of fruits and nuts, so we expect this sort of thing to especially take place there.
The latest outrage taking place there is California Assembly Bill 2943, which will effectively clamp down on all attempts to help those who are not happy with their same-sex attractions. You can see the bill here: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2943
If it passes in the Senate and becomes law, it will be a major blow to religious freedom and to those who want help in their sexual journey. This is not the first time the state has pushed such things. Back in 2012 California passed legislation declaring it illegal for minors to receive any help for same-sex attraction, even if they and their parents wanted help.
This bill would take things even further, banning adults from getting the help they so desperately may seek. David French helps us to understand just what this nefarious bill is all about:
Assembly Bill 2943 would make it an “unlawful business practice” to engage in “a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer” that advertise, offer to engage in, or do engage in “sexual orientation change efforts with an individual.”
The bill then defines “sexual orientations change efforts” as “any practices that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.” (Emphasis added.)
http://www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/california-progressives-launch-another-attack-on-free-speech/
This is real scary stuff folks. It is certainly an all-out war of freedom of speech and religious freedom. And it is an attack on the very core of Christian beliefs: the idea that Jesus Christ is able to radically change a person’s life. Not only can an individual be set free from various wrong actions, but desires can also be changed by God’s grace.
But a bill like this would effectively criminalise any such help offered to a person, certainly any that involves the sale of any goods or services. So a Christian counsellor who offers a nominal fee for his clients would be denied doing what he does. And of course any books or resources would also be banned from sale in such cases.
Given that the Bible itself obviously has so much to say on these issues, then it becomes apparent that it too may have to be banned, at least in connection with helping those who want out. Of course lefties, and the leftist Snopes “fact checker,” are claiming there is nothing to fear here. But they are simply seeking to deceive us.
Quite to the contrary, this is draconian legislation, and there is plenty to fear, including seeing books and Bibles eventually banned. As Robert A. J. Gagnon has just recently written on this:
Sure, it is virtually impossible that the state of California will immediately attempt to ban the sale of the Bible itself. Not even the hard Left in California has that kind of chutzpah. But citations of Bible verses in the context of declaring homosexual practice and transgenderism to be morally debased could indeed get one into serious trouble with the law if it comes in the context of selling or advertising a product or service….
The salient point is that there is nothing in the bill that would prevent the state from outlawing all religious or moral instruction that seeks to change homosexual behavior and transgender identity. The only limitation on the state is its own self-policed chutzpah regarding “LGBTQ” coercion.
Read the bill. It says: “This bill intends to make clear that sexual orientation change efforts are an unlawful practice under California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act…. ‘Sexual orientation change efforts’ means any practices that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex…. The following unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices undertaken by any person in a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer are unlawful: …. (28) Advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual.”
There is no religious exemption. There is no restriction to mental health professionals. There is not even a restriction to claims about changing a person’s sexual orientation or transgender feelings in whole or part. The bill is quite clear that any “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions,” are included in the ban on attempts to change a person’s “sexual orientation.”
So you would be violating the law if you advertise that Christ can empower people not to engage in homosexual practice or not to identify as “gay” or “transgender” because such behaviors and self-identities are morally wrong, or if you offer to engage or actually engage in efforts to persuade people of Christ’s power to transform in this area, you will be in violation of California AB 2943, at least so long as your advertising or efforts involve an exchange of money for goods or services.
Consequently, all of the following could be treated as violations of the law if California Assembly Bill 2943 passes the state senate and is signed into law by the Gov. Jerry Brown: Selling religious or secular books (pamphlets, videos, audios, etc.), holding conferences, teaching courses in a college or seminary where tuition is paid, giving a speech at a paid venue, counseling people for a fee, or perhaps even posting online articles in a site that requires a paid subscription, in which it is asserted (in whole or part) that it is morally wrong for people to engage in homosexual practice or identify as “gay” or “transgender.” There is certainly nothing in the bill that exempts such practices from prosecution by the state. We have learned that when it comes to “LGBTQ” matters what is exempted is not exempted for long and what is not exempted has no exemption. If you haven’t figured this out by now, you haven’t been paying attention.
As my lawyer friend Greg Teufel notes: “Of course they would not immediately apply it so broadly [as to ban the Bible]. But the day after of the bill becomes effective, try this and see what happens: Set up a booth with a big sign that says ‘You don’t have to stay gay’ with Bibles for sale. Explain to anyone that asks that if they buy the Bible, in it they will find the way to reduce and resist all manner of sinful impulses and temptations, including same sex attraction and same sex sexual behavior. Plus they can attend your Bible study class, for a fee, where you promise to explain more about what the Bible has to say about sin and how change is possible. Add that, ‘I know scientists may refuse to believe it, but all things are possible with God.’ Then have someone make a complaint about it, and see what happens. Wanna bet what would happen?”
This is the latest step in California’s war against freedom, against faith, and against family. We all should be shocked and horrified at just how far down the gurgler California is going. The rainbow juggernaut continues to roll on, crushing anything in its path.
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