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A pro-LGBTQ bill is quickly making its way through the California state assembly after it was approved on the floor last Thursday.
It now goes to the state Senate for a vote. It's expected to pass. The Governor is expected to sign it.
The homosexual activists are using the state's consumer fraud statute to threaten and restrict religious freedom and free speech regarding homosexuality and gender identity.
Other states are looking to follow this path.
Last week David French wrote in the National Review that California's Assembly bill AB 2943 "would actually...among other things...ban the sale of books expressing orthodox Christian beliefs about sexual morality. Yes, ban the sale of books."
He wrote, "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."
In other words, any Christian book that offers help to someone struggling with same-sex attractions could be banned and the author punished under this law.
Will burning the books be the next step?
The Bible is explicit in its teaching regarding homosexual behavior.
French wrote, "This is extraordinarily radical."
Well, it is. So you might wonder how the homosexual activists in state government managed to push this bill through?
Easy. The California Assembly approved the bill Friday by a vote of 50-18. That's right, 50-18. Not even close.
The California Policy Council's website says, "Assembly Votes To Violate the 1rst Amendment."
They say:
The State of California has no right to deny its residents the resources to help them find happiness or to shut down counselors, schools, and religious organizations that provide those services. Every person experiencing unwanted same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria must be allowed to pursue help in achieving their desired goals and outcomes.
The implications of this legislation spread far beyond regulating the type of counseling offered by licensed therapists, who are already banned from helping minors with unwanted same-sex attractions. Several legal experts have confirmed that by targeting financial transactions, AB 2943 threatens the ability of religious non-profits, churches, and pastors from selling resources that help people practice their faith.
French says, "The California Assembly approved a bill today 50-18 that tells churches and others with traditional beliefs about gender and sexual orientation that advocating for their views could get them sued."
The church's biblical teaching on these matters will now be illegal under the state's consumer fraud law.
French says:
Christian orthodoxy is simple — regardless of a person’s desires (their “orientation”), the standard of right conduct is crystal clear. Sex is reserved for marriage between a man and a woman. When it comes to “gender expression,” there is no difference between “sex” and “gender,” and the Christian response to gender dysphoria is compassion and treatment, not indulgence and surgical mutilation.
Put another way, there is a fundamental difference between temptation and sin. California law would intrude directly on this teaching by prohibiting even the argument that regardless of sexual desire, a person’s sexual behavior should conform to Biblical standards.
Christians find their identity in Christ, not in their gender and not in their sexual orientation. The state of California says no. Your gender and your orientation are your identity, and you should engage in actions that celebrate and ratify your alleged essence. The state is creating a new religion of sexual libertinism, declaring that religions opposing it aren’t just false but harmful, and then prohibiting contrary religious exercise.
No one doubts that Christian orthodoxy is contentious. No one doubts that its teachings on sexual morality are increasingly unpopular. But they remain constitutionally protected, and no state legislature should be permitted to ban a “good” (such as a book) or a “service” (like counseling) that makes these arguments and provides them to willing, consenting consumers. In fact, state law would lock in a sexual-revolution orthodoxy that all too often hurts the very people the state seeks to protect.
Randy Thomasson with SaveCalifornia.com told CBN, "So this pastor is speaking, you buy a ticket to hear him speak. He speaks about overcoming same-sex desires...A church sells a book about overcoming same-sex desires...There's a sale, a transaction, that could be banned."
Clearly, churches and Christian schools that share biblical teaching on the subject would be open to a lawsuit.
The bill states that "contemporary science recognizes that being lesbian, gay, or bisexual, or transgender is part of the natural spectrum of human identity and is not a disease, disorder, or illness."
Many of us have been talking about this kind of possibility---given the mindset of the culture.
This is it. However, this dictate does not come from a third-world despot holed up in a palace who wants the Bible banned, but from homosexual activists who have convinced an uninformed public that their chosen sexual behavior is normal---and everything is just fine; And anyone who thinks otherwise, including God Himself, is banned and held legally liable.
Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, says what makes this bill particularly dangerous is that California often leads the charge in the LGBTQ legislative agenda.
Other states are in fact considering similar legislation.
May God deliver us from evil.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Bold. Be Faithful. Be Prayerful.