AB 2943 squashing choice and speech passes California Senate
Thomasson: "How can any legislator voting for this call themselves pro-choice when they've voted to wipe out a person's own choice of a counselor?"

Sacramento, California -- Today's 25 to 11 passage by the California State Senate of a controversial ban on gender confusion counseling and free speech in California (AB 2943) has prompted the comment of Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a leading West Coast pro-family organization.

"How can any legislator voting for this call themselves pro-choice when they've voted to wipe out a person's own choice of a counselor?" Thomasson asked. "How can any legislator voting for AB 2943 say they support religious freedom when they've just threatened church bookstores that sell self-help books about overcoming unwanted same-sex desires? AB 2943 is anti-free-speech, anti-religious-freedom, anti-free-choice, and has no place in a free society. This intolerant bill contains no exemption and no protection at all for religious entities."

If signed into law, AB 2943 will be challenged in federal court based on this summer's National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra ruling, which recognized the free-speech rights of organizations and professionals. "Governor Brown, your only constitutional act would be to veto this flagrantly unconstitutional bill," Thomasson said.

Thomasson also took issue with the Democrat author of AB 2943, who claims counseling to overcome same-sex attraction is somehow "harmful."

"There are lots of people who've had gender confusion counseling and are a lot happier afterward," Thomasson said. "If Evan Low is so concerned about harm, he'd oppose the unhealthy homosexual and transsexual agenda, which has the highest HIV/AIDS transmission rate in our state and nation. How come the 'LGBTIQ' agenda encourages young people to question their heterosexuality, but is against anyone questioning their homosexuality? This freedom-robbing bill is profoundly unfair and blatantly unconstitutional."

"Consider that establishment entities generally view natural medicine, homeschooling, spankings, raw milk, and very religious families as 'harmful,'" Thomasson added. "Yet in a free society, what people choose for themselves is permitted. So should professional counseling for adults who want out of homosexuality and transsexuality. These are paying customers who seek self-improvement. What kind of society are we if we criminalize this redemptive healing?"

"Next time any of these anti-freedom legislators choose a personal or marriage counselor, let them be reminded what hypocrites they are for denying other people their own choice of a counselor," Thomasson concluded.

Documentation:

No exemption for church bookstores
Counseling for unwanted same-sex attraction is effective
Homosexuality is unhealthy
Transsexuality is biologically impossible
Transsexuality is harmful

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SaveCalifornia.com is a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization standing strong for moral virtues for the common good. We represent children and families in the areas of marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.