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Bill in Massachusetts to ban counseling on homosexuality for youth -- derailed after MassResistance lobbying push!

National effort by homosexual movement to ban counseling. Bills filed in state legislatures across America. Being stopped by pro-family outrage.

POSTED: June 3, 2014

The bill in the Massachusetts Legislature - being pushed by the national homosexual movement - to ban counseling for youth with sexual-orientation or sexual-identity issues appears to have been derailed after strong last-minute lobbying by MassResistance activists.

A team of MassResistance activists outside of the Massachusetts State House on May 21, about to go in and lobby against H3907.

Massachusetts is one of several states where the homosexual lobby has introduced similar bills. But since 2013, after passing in California and New Jersey (signed into law by Republican NJ Gov. Chris Christie), they have either been defeated or derailed in 11 states in a row as a result of outrage from parents and citizens.

Here in Massachusetts, Bill H3907 had sailed easily through two House committees and was sitting in the Committee on Steering, Policy, and Scheduling -- which is a waiting area for bills poised to go to the full House for a vote. It looked like it was on track to be pushed through the House and then on to the even more "gay"-friendly Senate.

Parents and activists descend on State House

But on Wednesday, May, 21, a group of MassResistance parents and activists descended on the State House into the offices of key legislators and gave unflinching presentations about the real effects of this bill.

About to enter one of the committee offices.

They described in detail the horrific problems this ban would cause to innocent, vulnerable youth -- many of whom were had been molested or experienced some sort of sexual trauma -- who need professional help to heal and properly cope. Children and teenagers who desperately want and need counseling would be denied it if the homosexual activists' bill were to become law.

The MassResistance group came heavily armed with solid information, including materials from the national ex-gay groups PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays) and Equality and Justice for All. In particular, Christopher Doyle, president of the ex-gay group Voice of the Voiceless, was most valuable in supplying material.

Here is some of the material given to legislators:

The next day - bill gets quietly taken out of action pool

Obviously, something we said got through in a big way.

The following day, it was quietly announced that the bill would be moved to the Ways and Means Committee -- taking it out of the direct path to the House floor. People knowledgeable of the process told us that means the bill has been stopped from further action this session. A Ways and Means Committee staffer told MassResistance that, while they were reluctant to discuss exactly what was happening, it was "likely" that the bill is there because it's going nowhere. The so-called formal session of the Legislature ends on July 31. This usually halts most activity until the next session begins in January.

"Born that way" versus the concept of "ex-gay"

For decades, the homosexual movement's mantra has been the false idea that homosexuals (and transgenders) are all "born that way" and cannot be changed. That has become the basis of much of their agenda in schools, businesses, and throughout society. It is also behind their success in changing the legal system, through "anti-discrimination" laws and "gay marriage".

This assumption is not factually grounded. No "gay gene" has ever been discovered. And even the pro-"gay" American Psychological Association (APA) says there is no consensus as to what causes "gay" behavior.

But the biggest threat to that assumption is the growing ex-gay movement and the success of thousands of ex-homosexuals who are leading normal, fulfilling lives. This angers the homosexual movement enormously, and they have created a (well-funded) cottage industry of demonizing ex-gays around the country and suppressing any information about their existence.

Professional counseling a major factor

Dealing with the trauma and other underlying issues behind homosexual (or transgender) behaviors can be daunting to a person unhappily caught up in those lifestyles. Well-trained professional counseling organizations and religious groups have had great success helping individuals with their healing process and getting back onto a road to normalcy. Such intervention is often crucial during the teenage years, especially if the individual had been sexually molested, or experienced some other trauma or family dysfunction. We've personally seen situations where such help has had wonderful positive effects on teenagers who had started down that road.

Important VIDEO: This very moving video describes the need for reparative therapy for youth. From 2012 NARTH conference.
Also see Voices-of-Change.org

On the other hand, the homosexual movement knows that if youth are encouraged to continue in homosexuality without intervention, and are constantly reinforced that it's "who they really are," then over time the behaviors will become much harder to resist and even addictive. As cruel as it seems, that movement is obsessed with encouraging youths to be "gay" and discouraging them from understanding the health dangers and lifelong impact.

Legislation to keep youths from receiving counseling!

So in 2012 the national homosexual movement created a bold plan to pass bills in state legislatures around the country to make it illegal for youth under 18 to get such counseling. Any licensed mental health professional would be banned from offering any such services to them, under threat of punishment, even if the child and/or the parents desperately wanted it. At the same time, therapists would not be banned from counseling supporting homosexual behaviors!

Here is the Massachusetts proposed bill, H3907:

Bills filed in state legislatures across America

At this point, similar bills have been filed in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

To push this they created a slick, emotional, well-crafted (and very well-funded) lobbying plan. It's basically a campaign of disinformation and propaganda. Major homosexual activists, working through the state's homosexual lobby, come in and present to legislators all kinds of hysteria and lies about so-called "reparative therapy" and how it supposedly does "great harm" to children - because, after all, they were "born that way." (See example HERE.)

At first it was very effective. The first two bills sailed through the California legislature, and then the New Jersey legislature, and got signed by both governors. That took everyone by surprise, and pro-family people were stunned and outraged.

But then things started to turn around. Helped by prominent ex-gay movement leaders, including activists such as Christopher Doyle and others, local pro-family groups began to get informed and fight back effectively. And it's worked. Despite the overwhelming resources the homosexual lobby has used to push these bills, after California and New Jersey everything has changed.

The LGBT lobby was unprepared for the diversity of people ultimately turned off by these bills. Despite the very emotional , deceptive, misleading and outright false arguments being used, once people find out what the bills really do they are very unpopular across a broad political spectrum. Many legislators who normally vote liberal and "pro-gay" back off this one, especially once they see how unfair, "anti-choice", and unscientific the bills are.

As of now, here's the rest of the tally. These are some of the untold recent victories of the pro-family movement:

Rejected by state legislatures in 8 states: Virginia, Maryland, Washington, Minnesota, Illinois, Hawaii, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island.

On a path to be rejected in 5 states and DC: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, New York, District of Columbia, and Massachusetts.

Up in the air: Vermont.

The LGBT campaign to pass the bill in Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, the homosexual movement converged at the State House on August 12, 2013, for the public hearing before the Joint Committee of Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities. You can see our full report of that day HERE.

Homosexual activists and their allies filled the hearing room.

They brought in some of the most infamous and abusive homosexual activists from Massachusetts and around the country. Their testimony can only be described as a well-crafted, very emotional series of exaggerations, distortions, and outright lies about therapy to help troubled youth deal with abuse and sexual-orientation issues.

At that time, the bill was H154. It's main sponsor was Carl Sciortino (D-Medford), also a prominent homosexual activist, who organized the testimony and had an inside track to the committee members.

Rep. Carl Sciortino testifying at hearing. [MassResistance photo]

Our side, including MassResistance, offered its own testimony. But that committee was largely biased and overtly hostile toward us. They also appeared to have been prepped beforehand to reject our testimony outright. We could see that the battle had to be fought outside of that committee.

Since the hearing

The bill easily got through that committee with an "ought to pass" designation. However, the text of the bill was very slightly modified and re-written as H3907.

It then went to the Committee on Health Care Financing, where it was also given an "ought to pass" designation. It was in the Committee on Steering, Policy, and Scheduling on a path to the House floor when MassResistance pro-family activists intervened. As discussed above, it's now (we hope) dormant in the Ways and Means Committee.

On April 4, 2014, Rep. Carl Sciortino resigned from the Legislature, citing his battle with HIV, to become head of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts. He was the one who was championing this bill, although there were also a handful of co-sponsors. Generally, this doesn't bode well for a bill.

Could this bill come back?

We must still be vigilant.

The homosexual movement is obviously paying attention to what's happened. The passage of this bill had been a stated goal of both the national and Massachusetts homosexual lobby. It's possible that they will come back with a well-funded effort to resurrect it before the end of the session. That's what happened in 2008 with the repeal of the "1913 Law," orchestrated by the homosexual lobby.

But they've also seen what's been happening across the country. It's perceived much differently than other LGBT legislation. It's easy to show how this is a horrible, destructive bill that could tremendously hurt kids who need help. And MassResistance is committed to keeping up the pressure. It has a lot of passionate opposition, which we are prepared to mobilize. In the Legislature, there is already bi-partisan concern about it. And more important it's very likely that the leadership would just as soon avoid this kind of a fight so close to the end of the session.

At this point, it looks like we have a victory. But we're not taking anything for granted. We will keep up the fight!