The Canadian government has just passed the most extreme ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy’ I’ve ever seen with serious criminal consequences for anyone promoting or working in the field.
THE HILL – A bill outlawing conversion therapy on Wednesday formally received “royal assent,” or a ceremonial signature by the Governor General of Canada or a deputy after being unanimously approved in both the House of Commons and the Senate.
The ban will go into effect in 30 days, and the nation’s criminal code will be amended to make conversion therapy practices illegal in Canada for both adults and children.
Specifically, it will be considered a criminal offense in Canada to promote or profit off of conversion therapy, according to text of the bill.
“It’s official: Our government’s legislation banning the despicable and degrading practice of conversion therapy has received Royal Assent – meaning it is now law. LGBTQ2 Canadians, we’ll always stand up for you and your rights,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted Wednesday.
The reason why this ban is so extreme is because it actually bans conversion therapy between consenting adults, not just for juveniles. And it defines conservation therapy as “counseling”:
FOX NEWS – Bill C-4, which received royal assent Wednesday, amends the Canadian Criminal Code to criminalize causing someone to undergo conversion therapy, taking a child out of Canada for the purpose of conversion therapy, profiting from the provision of conversion therapy, and advertising or promoting the practice.
Penalties for the new offenses range from two to five years in prison.
Previous versions of the bill failed in Parliament, but the current bill goes further than other editions by prohibiting consenting adults from seeking conversion therapy, which it defines in part as counseling intended to “repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behavior.”
Also banned is therapy meant to “repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity,” as well as “repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to the sex assigned to the person at birth.”
This is absolutely hideous. Just think for a second at how this will be used against the church, with pastors and priests being thrown in jail for counseling someone who repents of being gay or transgender and wants to change. Or how it will be used against parents!
Make no mistake, this new law in Canada is an attack on the church, essentially criminalizing what we believe as Christians in regards to homosexuality and transgenderism being a sin. It won’t be long before even mentioning that homsexuality is sin becomes a criminal offense!