These Christians think banning conversion therapy is banning the Bible

Conservative Christians in California believe that a new bill introduced to ban conversion therapy will in effect also ban the bible.

Background

A.B. 2943 was passed by the California House on Thursday, 19 April. The bill won by a 50-13 vote. Its purpose is to expand an existing law which prohibits conversion therapy on minors. These so-called ‘therapies’ are often harmful and increase the risk of suicide among LGBTI youth.

The expansion of this bill now protects all people, not just minors, by adding the terms ‘advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual’ to the ‘existing list of unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices,’ according to the bill’s text.

‘California legislators rightfully declared that so-called “conversion therapy” is a complete sham and those who offer this deceptive and dangerous practice must be held accountable,’ the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) National Field Director Marty Rouse said in a statement.

‘California was the first state to protect minors from being subjected to conversion therapy by state-licensed health care providers, and today’s vote is an important step to protecting all LGBTQ people from this debunked practice. We thank the assembly members who voted in favor of AB 2943 and urge the Senate to swiftly advance the bill to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk.’

‘War on Christianity’

Yet, Christian conservatives have apparently dubbed this bill the ‘Must Stay Gay Bill’ and seem to believe it is ‘criminalizing Christian beliefs.’

One such Christian conservative is California State Assemblymember Travis Allen. Allen also happens to be running for governor.

Allen appeared on the far-right news network OANN to discuss this bill.

‘This is essentially criminalizing religious beliefs,’ OANN host Liz Wheeler falsely claims. ‘I don’t mean to speak in hyperbole here, but if this bill were to pass, would this prohibit the sale of the Bible, that teaches these things about sexual morality?’

‘Well, literally, according to how this law is written, yes, it would [prohibit bible sales],’ Allen, also falsely, responds.

‘This is, you know, PC culture, politically correct culture, gone horribly awry. This is really directly hitting at our First Amendment rights as American citizens. Now the Democrat legislators in this building, right behind me, the California state legislature, they want to tell you how to think, what sort of books that you can read, write and purchase.’

Fake news

According to Snopes, the idea that this bill would prohibit the sales of bibles is totally false.

‘California Assembly Bill 2943 does not mention the Bible, Christianity, or religion at all, so when Allen claimed that the legislation would “literally” prohibit the sale of the Bible, he was stating something that is demonstrably and clearly false,’ the fact checking website wrote.

Currently, 12 states, Washington D.C., and various cities around the country have laws banning conversion therapy.

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