From James Emery White’s Church and Culture:
A first-of-its-kind bill is being proposed in California that would ban teens and children from receiving therapy to escape unwanted same-sex attractions, and discourage it for adults. Opponents are calling it a blatant denial of freedom and parental/family rights. Nonetheless, it has already made its way through the state Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would ban anyone under age 18 from receiving sexual-orientation change efforts on the assertion, made by gay-marriage supporters, that sexual orientation is generally inborn and immutable. It would require adults to sign a release form before treatment begins, stating that the therapy will be ineffective and probably damaging. Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a legal-defense group that objects to the bill’s impact on “free speech and family rights” called the proposal “one of the most outrageous, speech-chilling bills we have ever seen in California – and that’s saying a lot.” Matthew McReynolds, a lawyer with PJI, noted that the bill appears to give the state the “power to take kids away from parents who do not affirm the kids’ sexual confusion.”
(This particular bill is one of the most egregious and frightening I’ve ever seen. It essentially prevents a parent from leading their child away from unwanted same-sex attractions, and attempts to prevent adults from receiving help to leave the homosexual lifestyle. In effect, it is not simply attempting to gain acceptance for homosexuality, but make its opposition illegal.)