[Ed. – The following is a guest post by Bill Wells, mayor of the City of El Cajon, Calif.]
I need to say this: California has lost its collective mind. From the horribly misguided and partisan sanctuary state law to the suicidal car tax and cap and trade laws, California’s laws run the spectrum from merely silly to downright dangerous.
Things, however, are about to get much worse. This week the California Assembly passed AB 2943, which is an abominable impulse toward secular totalitarianism and overt hostility to religious liberty that should frighten all Americans.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The crux of this law states that “advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual” are illegal under state’s consumer fraud laws. Sexual orientation change efforts is defined 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.”
On the surface the intention is to prevent “conversion therapy,” a practice whereby a person, usually a minor, is subjected to attempts to “cure” him of homosexuality, or transgenderism. This practice is controversial and a favorite straw man of gay activists.
The California bill, however, would prevent an adult suffering gender-identity confusion from seeking professional help of his own volition. For example, if a person in a heterosexual relationship was bothered by feelings of same-sex attraction and wanted to explore those feelings with a therapist, that therapist would have no choice but to refuse treatment or face legal action against gim.
Another insidious aspect of this bill is the provision that in any situation where money changes hands, the expression of views or opinions inconsistent with the LGBT worldview will not be tolerated. If you pay to attend a religious conference where a clergyman casts homosexuality or transgenderism in a negative light, the church hosting the event may face litigation. The same is true of any book sold at that conference — presumably including the Bible! —which is an outright violation of the First Amendment.
The State of California has been hijacked by ultra-radical leftists who are giving into their totalitarian impulses. Make no mistake: These impulses lean toward the destruction of all that is Christian. The hostility is overt and calculated, and it is coming to your state next.
