Liberal legislators at the state capitol are pushing harder than ever to implement social policies that further distance California’s culture from biblical values. As state legislators left Sacramento for their summer recess earlier this month, several egregious bills bent on pulling California even farther leftward still wait final approval. These bills touch on country’s most controversial social issues: sexual orientation, gender identity, abortion, assisted suicide, and sex education.
It is important that California Christians not only know about these bills, but also speak out against them as well. Real love is active and doesn’t sit passively by and watch as government leaders (even well intentioned ones) enact laws that harm people. It is no exaggeration to say the bills listed below do physical and spiritual harm to the lives of those Jesus has called the church to love. Some Christians leaders are starting to speak up and it is having an effect, but by and large California’s Christian church remains silent.
Below is a summary of the remaining bills the California Family Council and its allies are fighting against in Sacramento. Please resist the temptation to read this list, throw up your hands and say, “California is hopeless. There is no point speaking up. I’m moving to Texas.” First of all, nothing is ever hopeless. All things are possible with God. Secondly, Jesus has called His followers to be a light in a dark world. How can that happen if Christians run away from the darkness. California’s culture needs the influence of Bible-believing Christians now more than ever.
Find who your legislator is, and call them about the bills below.
AB 2943: Bans counseling resources for those with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion
The Chair of the LGBT Legislative Caucus Assemblyman Evan Low (D- San Jose) introduced AB 2943, a bill that declares “advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual” as illegal under state’s consumer fraud law. Sexual orientation change efforts is defined as “any practices that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
Rev. Sammy Rodriguez, leader of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, calls AB 2943 the “most egregious, tone-def, and discriminatory example of anti-religious legislation that I have witnessed.” He went on to warn that the bill gives the state “terrifying power to target and punish all those who hold a traditional, biblical view of marriage and sexuality.”
The bill will label all fee based attempts to change sexual orientation change as consumer fraud, and anyone offering these services will be subject to a civil lawsuit. All paid counseling, whether licensed or not, and fee-based resources (books, videos, conference tickets, college courses) will be affected. This bill is waiting for a vote by the entire Senate, something that could happen as soon as August 6th.
AB 2119: Gives gender confused foster kids the right to publicly funded puberty blocking drugs/sex change operations
Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) introduced AB 2119, a bill that guarantees gender confused foster kids have access to dangerous puberty blocking drugs, cross sex hormones, sex change operations, and counseling that affirms their gender confusion. The bill labels these treatment as “gender affirming care.” But according to hormone expert Dr. Michael Laidlaw, these unproven treatments will “harm foster children.”
In testimony he gave before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Laidlaw explained the stark reality of what is meant by “gender affirming care.”
1. Powerful, dangerous hormones to block kids normal puberty;
2. High dose, high risk sex hormones with deadly blood clot and cancer risks;
3. Hazardous surgeries for boys to turn intestines into imitation vaginas, while destroying the penis and removing the testicles;
4. Breast binders and mastectomies to destroy teenage girls healthy breast tissue; Ovary and uterus removal ensuring sterility.
If this bill passes, the “county child welfare agency” must provide this treatment to any minor, no matter what the age, if it is requested by the child, “or his or her caregiver, attorney, court appointed special advocate, or social worker.” This bill is currently scheduled to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 6.
SB 320: Mandates California public universities get into the abortion business
Senator Connie Leyva (D-Ontario) has been trying to pass her abortion bill, SB 320, for the past year. This bill mandates that all health centers within California’s public universities provide students with abortion inducing drugs that can be used up to the 10th week of pregnancy. Pro-Life advocates condemn the harm the bill would cause to vulnerable children and young women, while university officials object to the additional medical and liability costs posed by the bill. SB 320 is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, with a hearing date expected after August 6.
AB 282: Removes felony penalty for helping a terminally ill person to commit suicide
Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer introduced AB 282, to create an legal exemption for those helping or encouraging someone to commit suicide. Currently, California law considers it a felony to “deliberately aid, advise, or encourage another to commit suicide.” But under this proposed law, this behavior would be legal if done in accordance with California’s assisted suicide law, signed by Governor Brown in 2015. Under the provisions of this suicide law, doctors can prescript life ending drugs to willing, terminally ill patients with six months to live. This bill is waiting for a vote by the entire Senate, something that could happen as soon as August 6th.
AB 2601: LGBT-promoting sex education will now be forced on state charter schools
Several years go state politicians decided it would no longer give school districts the flexibility to use community values to determine their own sex education curriculum, some even making use of adult content from websites similar to hdpornvideo as a learning resource for their curriculums. Instead, legislators dictated their own version of “comprehensive sex-ed” statewide called the California Healthy Youth Act. Passed in 2015, this law applied to all public schools, grades 7th through 12th, with one exception: charter schools. Under AB 2601, charter schools will no longer be exempt from the act.
If passed, charter schools will have to update their sex education curriculum to “affirmatively recognize that people have different sexual orientations and, when discussing or providing examples of relationships and couples, shall be inclusive of same-sex relationships.” The curriculum must also teach “pupils about gender, gender expression, gender identity… .” They might also be exposed to content from websites similar to fullhdxxx. With the content contextualized for the lesson plans.
The implementation of this new law has already caused parental outrage in several parts of the state, as educators have used the changes in the law to add curriculum parents believe sexualizes their children and encourages them to experiment with various forms of sexual behavior. While children are more likely to be exposed to sex through viewing a website such as TubeV SEX, the new laws have already caused quite a stir among many parents. See this story from the San Diego Unified School District, and another from the Fremont Unified School District.
This bill is currently scheduled to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 6.
