The resolution also condemns counseling for unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion, known as conversion therapy.
The California Senate passed a resolution earlier this week, calling upon all Californians to accept and support LGBTQ ideology, even if doing so violates their Christian beliefs.
Assembly Concurrent Resolution 99 (ACR99), introduced by Evan Low (D-San Jose), first made its rounds in the Assembly, where it also passed. According to the Blade, the resolution does not require the state’s Governor’s signature but does not have the force of a law.
The resolution calls upon “all Californians to embrace the individual and social benefits of family and community acceptance, upon religious leaders to counsel on LGBTQ matters from a place of love, compassion, and knowledge of the psychological and other harms of conversion therapy…”
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The bill also called out “therapists and religious groups” for creating “disproportionately high rates of suicide, attempted suicide, depression, rejection, and isolation amongst LGBTQ and questioning individuals.”
The resolution also condemns counseling for unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion, known as conversion therapy.
The bill says “California law recognizes that performing conversion therapy on young persons is ineffective, unethical, and harmful. Conversion therapy has been rejected as ineffective, unethical, and harmful by leading medical, mental health, and child welfare organizations in the United States.”
Several Christian leaders are speaking out against the resolution saying it infringes upon their free exercise of religion.
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Russell Willingham, executive director of New Creation Ministries, said, “I believe ACR99 sets the stage for future laws that will criminalize pastor caregivers like me who provide such a resource—resources that offer an option for those who don’t want what the state is telling them they must accept.”
“We have actual patients and clients who have benefited from therapy to help them with their unwanted attractions. We’ve helped them change their lives,” Roger Gannam, vice president of legal affairs for Liberty Counsel said.
Supporters of the resolution assert that religious liberty does not apply here as it amounts to discrimination. They also argue that such counseling from faith-based groups is “psychological torture” and “mental health malpractice,” according to The Christian Post.
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“Until recently, the interpretation of the First Amendments was that one religion could not impose itself on other religions,” Democratic state Sen. Hannah Beth Jackson said, “[That] one should have religious freedom to discriminate against others is a relatively new concept.”
However, Republican state Sen. Andreas Borgeas disagrees, saying, “we are treading into freedom of speech territory that I think should concern all of us … When an individual seeks therapy or guidance before a religious leader, whether it be a mosque, a temple, or a church, that’s a private setting … To disallow or create the pathway where we tell individuals they cannot say certain things should give us pause.”
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