A Pennsylvania lawmaker wants to follow California's lead and ban sexual orientation counseling for youth. Although that proposal will die today, it's sure to come back to life later.
Representative Babette Josephs of Philadelphia introduced the bill to prohibit psychologists and others from providing counseling for unwanted same sex attractions based on the argument that same sex attraction is not a mental disorder.
Tom Shaheen of the Pennsylvania Family Institute tells OneNewsNow the bill threatens the individual liberties of a counselor.
"It also threatens the liberty of someone seeking help," he adds. "It also could threaten ministries and especially Christian counselors who would teach and certainly counsel that homosexuality is a sin and help someone try to come out of that lifestyle and actually restore relationship or even begin a relationship with Jesus."
Shaheen is hopeful Pennsylvania will not copy California in banning counseling that has helped many people.
"The sponsor is known for her promotion of gay rights and opposition to marriage amendments and other things in the past," he tells OneNewsNow. "So it's not a surprise, but it is troubling to see legislation drafted that would go this far in actually making it illegal."
Shaheen believes the bill will die with the end of the session but is likely to be reintroduced when the next session begins in late January, and he suggests it will take a grassroots effort to stop it.