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Conservatives challenged California’s 2012 ban on conversion therapy for minors, and they lost. If the bill passes and ADF files a lawsuit, they would have an uphill battle before them. They don’t explain how any of that could be interpreted as a “sexual orientation change effort” under California law. Men who struggle with the desire to have sex with little girls can receive counseling, but not those who want to have sex with little boys. Under the ban, victims of sexual abuse can only receive therapy for “unwanted emotional and sexual ties to their abuser” if the abuser is the opposite sex. If a pastor’s sermon is so commercial that the state government considers it more of an advertisement than a religious practice, then something has already gone very wrong in that church.īecause these people cannot stop comparing homosexuality to pedophilia, ADF also said that therapists will be banned from treating pedophiles who go after boys (but not pedophiles who go after girls), as well as victims of sexual abuse by someone of the same sex (but not the opposite sex): The law is about advertising, a form of speech that the Supreme Court has long said could be regulated if it’s false or misleading. And about other books… well, why are pastors hawking their wares from the pulpit? The comment about the Bible is overwrought – it says nothing about conversion therapy. “It could be a violation if a pastor encourages a congregant to visit the church bookstore to purchase books that help people address sexual issues, perhaps including the Bible itself, which teaches about the importance of sexual purity within the confines of marriage between a man and woman,” said Sharp.

In an interview with the Baptist Press, Matt Sharp of the ADF said that the bill “ burdens free speech and the free exercise of religion.” While the California law can only be enforced when people purchase a good or service – not when a pastor says something in church – Sharp says that religious leaders could be prosecuted anyway.

Matt sharp alliance defending dom