California Bans “Gay Therapy” for minors – “I told you So…”

Governor Jerry Brown, who was elected in California (defeating former ebay CEO Meg Whitman) to make the tough decisions needed to keep California out of bankruptcy and balance its spending-spree budget, has instead continued the California tradition of budget gimmicks and “kicking the can down the road” for later administrations and generations to deal with. The budget he has signed, assumes the voters will approve more than $8 billion in new taxes this November, and seizes over $3.1 billion from local redevelopment agencies, a violation of the voter’s will and likely unconstitutional (and bound to end up bogged down in court). It further assumes, that even if the voters passed the new taxes, they would not have a detrimental effect on the economy and drive even more people and businesses away from California, which they will. He did make some cuts, in the worse possible places such as eliminating Healthy Families, targeting poor children and their health care, but kept the vast state worker union machine and public education bureaucracy intact and in control. Of course he would, it was their money that got him elected in the first place.

In any case, having completely failed to achieve his mandate despite his party’s complete control of the legislature (and the courts), he now is free to sign his social liberal agenda into law. As reported by Reuters, California SB 1172 has been signed into law by Governor Brown.

The bill bans minors from receiving any type of therapy or counseling which explores the possibility of changing the individual’s behavior back to that of his or her gender, and/or away from homosexual orientation. This is of course, regardless of what the minor, his parents, his doctors and anyone else’s wish or opinion is on the matter. It is now simply illegal in the state of California.

Assault on Freedom

First and foremost, regardless of what opinion anyone has on homosexuality, this is simply a blatant assault on freedom. It is precisely the kind of government dictate that the founding fathers of the United States sought to avoid, when with force of arms they erected a nation of freedom on a new continent. Those that champion separation of Church and State, broadening its definition to constantly push any public display of faith behind the closed doors of private residences, should be ashamed (as they should have been already) of supporting this bill. It is hard to imagine a more intrusive and authoritarian deprivation of freedom than taking away the rights of lifestyle values from parents, the medical professionals they trust, and the minors themselves. It is especially ironic, that this intrusion is not to enforce the common values of the society upon the minors (which would also be wrong), but rather to ban their application.

 I told you So

In a more in-depth article on the political agenda of the left regarding homosexual issues, I warned about the what the homosexual left (and the left in general) was really after. They are not after any freedom that they already enjoy as they claim to be, but rather a ratified, sealed, government approval of the moral greatness of their lifestyle. More dangerously, they aim to take away everyone’s freedom to disagree with that. Gays have had the right to be as gay as they want in the US and the Western World for many decades, but they seek to take away the right of other’s to believe it is not appropriate, or even to believe it is ANY less ideal than the lifestyle of a traditional heterosexual nuclear  family, the foundation of Western Civilization. In that article which focused on the “gay marriage” issue, I warned:

 

Their movement has little to do with allowing gays and lesbians to live their preferred lifestyles which they already do. It is now a quest to obtain something much greater… It is not simply enough for society to allow them their private freedom, we must say it is “OK”. This is why the State sponsored marriage certificate is such an important symbol for them. If the State itself, along with its great Seal recognizes them in holy matrimony, then who can say otherwise? The legal repercussions are many…

 Prophetically, I continued:

 The left and the political gay and lesbian community are not after freedom, which they fully enjoy, they are after legislative changes that will deeply alter the way society and nations live and function. The equality they seek is not one of law, but one of social moral norms. They wish to Take Away the right of society to hold the age old marriage between a man and a woman to be morally ideal, they wish to strike the final legal blow to the traditional nuclear family. They are looking for the great seal of approval, Government proof that no lifestyle is superior to any other, that no moral value regardless of how deeply it is ingrained into our history, values and religion is superior to any other regardless of how new, weird and unnatural it might be. Make no mistake about it, it is a precedent that does not end there…

 
Specifically, I warned that new legislative changes will follow and that they wish to Take Away the rights to hold heterosexuality as an ideal.  Please allow me to quote the very first line of the new California bill:

Being lesbian, gay, or bisexual is not a disease, disorder, illness, deficiency, or shortcoming.

You understand? It is now legally binding that being gay is not in any way shape or form, less ideal than not being so. This opinion is now enshrined into law in California like the other sacred truths that we hold self evident…

that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

As a side note, the Democrats will remind us that it is illegal for you to believe the “Creator” exists, and that you can pursue Happiness, but not more than others, otherwise the state shall seize it to redistribute it among the less happy; and of course liberty you should have even less than Happiness, since the state must have regulations to guide your lost soul, and most definitely not the liberty to raise your children with your values, nor hope your boy grow to be a man and your girl to be a lady. That is illegal.

Notice that the bill for its purposes could have stopped at stating homosexuality is not a “disease”, “illness” or “disorder” (that thus would require the medical attention they mean to ban), but rather goes on to say it is neither a “deficiency” nor “shortcoming”. Amazing to have government laws dictate to us what “shortcomings” are. This, as I warned, is exactly what they are after… law by law, statute by statute… 

 Now, for ease in writing the bill bans any therapy or counseling that aims to “change sexual orientation”. However, later the bill defines what it means as “changing 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.

Firstly, the trick is easy to see here. While the bill uses the term “change sexual orientation”, its definition in the bill is much more inclusive. Courts will be able to apply this bill very broadly.

It includes “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions”? Well under “behaviors” I suppose the bill just banned just about all therapies since they mostly aim to change some behavioral pattern or another.  And the magic term for the left here is “gender expressions”. Basically, lawsuits will be able to be filed against any therapist and families who hold differing opinions than the leftist state agencies. So if a 7-year-old little boy, far removed from any concepts of being “gay” or sexuality in general,  is dressing up in skirts and as a girl all day long, efforts by the parents to curb this behavior are now banned, at least those using the assistance of professionals. 

Likewise “tomboy” behavior in girls cannot be addressed, no matter how extreme. In fact, the very term “lady-like” and its counterparts will be completely off limits. Any attempt at families and their trusted private professionals to influence their children’s behavior as a boy or girl are completely illegal under this new bill.

Yes, “freedom” for homosexuals is everything I hoped it would be, the destruction of parents’ liberties in raising their children according to their own values and traditions.

But there is little reason to worry, as the definition clearly ends “attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex”. So I trust, sending your perfectly straight child to therapy intended to turn him INTO a homosexual will be interpreted by the courts as perfectly legal. The bill is concerned only with the “evil” of trying to keep a girl a girl, and a boy a boy… it is obviously perfectly fine to do the opposite, since that would be wrong.

More absurdly, the definition not only forbids the attempt to “eliminate” romantic and sexual attractions and behavior towards members of the same sex, but also forbids the attempt at its “reduction”. This is incredible  as the psychology and psychiatric professions have (wrongly or rightly) defined and diagnosed a host of emotional (romantic) and sexual disorders that have nothing to do with to which gender they are directed at. The most common of course are various forms “sexual addictions” that are commonly depicted in movies and the mainstream media.

Take an example completely removed from the sexual orientation debate, a young girl who is overly obsessed with boys or a by one in particular. Though some level of this behavior is normal, extreme cases are quite common where the obsession can lead to very negative effects on the young girl; be it damage to her self-image and self-worth, neglect of studies, family, friends, other “normal” social activities or worse.

Whether this obsession be sexual or purely romantic, it would definitely warrant the intervention of parents and perhaps their trusted professionals to attempt to alter the young girl’s behavior. It would not simply be considered perfectly fine because it is a heterosexual attraction. This is just one of hundreds of situations where parents may want to curb or alter a minor’s romantic and/or sexual behavior. As long as this behavior is homosexual, and not heterosexual, it now stands as illegal under California law to attempt to change it.

Freedom of Religion

Besides being aimed at the legal enforcement of a gay agenda, a weakening of the tower of freedom, and a strengthening of state intrusion into the lives of citizens, the bill is also an assault on religion. In fact, is a direct assault on Freedom of Religion which is a guaranteed right all Californians are supposed to have under the US Constitution.

This is no exaggeration  The three great monotheistic religions of the world forbid male homosexuality, as do many others, and though it has always existed one can assume, in Western Civilization it has also done so at the fringes of society and never as an acceptable alternative to the traditional family. Though it may come as a shock to Los Angeles and San Francisco liberals, most Americans continue to be Christians, just as the founders of the nation were,  and the vast majority of Americans who are not, belong to other religions that also frown upon homosexuality. Perhaps more shocking to them, is that many Americans wish to pass down to their children the values that they themselves received from their parents and generations passed.

Some may go as far as wishing that there little boys grow up to be “real men”, moral, kind, strong, brave and gentlemen (a “Mensch” as we say in Yiddish); the kind of men that will make great husbands and fathers, not interested in instant self-gratification but in providing for their families and doing what is right. Yes, extreme as it may sound to the gentle protein-deprived ears of the hippie, a man who is attracted to women.

Attempting to raise such a boy, the likes of which have carried the torch of Western Civilization for millennia and held its ramparts against the darkness of barbarism, Nazism and Communism, would break just about every clause in California’s wretched SB 1172 law.

One of the major facets of most religions regulate sexual behavior and gender responsibilities  It is Judaism and Christianity that tell us adultery is wrong (though they define slightly differently).  Some believe in a strict abstinence before marriage. Other religions actually demand life long celibacy of their clergy (such as Catholics). With whom, when and where people engage in sexual conduct is a deeply personal, cultural and often religious decision. To many, sexual behavior is deeply intertwined with values, spiritual feelings and morals, and not simply a physical function such as going to the restroom. For the state government to directly regulate the beliefs that can and cannot be taught to minors regarding these religious issues is a direct violation of freedom of religion.

This is especially true, then the religious values being violated are actually part of the heritage of the nation, held by a majority of its citizens, and not a violation of any other of our Western values. The only time religion can be trumped by the state is when it directly violates these and there is no choice. For example, an Aztec could not show up and demand to conduct human sacrifice since it was part of his (now extinct) religion. But if the same Aztec was to tell us that Aztec boys should not marry until the age of 30, and at that point marry only women age 40 and older, the state could not intrude into his beliefs in any way.

Another step for statism, the oppression of a massive bureaucracy over the liberty of once free nations, led by elitist, secular, leftist, patriotism-free geeks who believe that in their omnipotent wisdom they will guide and regulate the wretched masses into a fairer, more effeminate, more organized, sterilized world where individual liberty was the last archaic roar of a barbarian past. They believe it is some form of Utopia, a Viking would definitely not recognize it as Valhalla, but would undoubtedly know he was seeing hell.