Former LGBT individuals speak out against California therapy ban

LIFESITE NEWS– Doug Mainwaring-

Brave former gay, lesbian and transgendered individuals took to a podium outside the California statehouse on Thursday to oppose a proposed law banning counseling and therapy aimed at helping those who seek freedom from LGBTQ+ identities and lifestyles.  

“Each of these precious people here have an incredible story of how they navigated (dealing with LGBT impulses) and what they needed in order to navigate with conscience, with their faith convictions,” explained Ken Williams, co-founder of Changed, a burgeoning movement composed of folks who once identified as LGBTQ+ and who now “celebrate the love of Jesus and His freedom and comfort in our lives.”

“Seven years ago, we found ourselves on these steps, because a bill, AB 2943, was threatening our ability to get the resources that we have needed, and that we want to be able to extend to others,” recounted Williams, who as a young man struggled with unwanted same-sex attraction. 

“Please don’t take away our freedom of conscience, our freedom to follow our faith, our freedom of speech,” Williams pleaded to the legislators in the statehouse behind him. “We just need space to be able to follow our own convictions.”

The forces behind California’s push to ban therapy “look at what we do as something they rather sinisterly call ‘conversion therapy,’” said Joe Dallas, a Biblical counselor in southern California who as a young man dealt with inner conflict between same-sex attraction and his Christian faith.  Continue reading…