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Chris Seelbach, pictured above, made history in 2011 when he became the first openly-gay politician elected to the Cincinnati City Council. He is 36 years old. He is a Democrat. He was
Chris Seelbach, pictured above, made history in 2011 when he became the first openly-gay politician elected to the Cincinnati City Council. He is 36 years old. He is a Democrat. He was
educated at the John F.
Kennedy School of Government, University of
Dayton School of Law, Xavier
University, Cincinnati, OH.
A committee of the Cincinnati City
Council voted 7-2 Monday to approve a proposed ordinance that would prohibit
therapy designed to change sexual orientation or gender identity and impose a
$200-a-day fine on violators.
The
measure goes before the full council Wednesday. If the council passes the
language, Cincinnati would be the first city in the United States to enact a
ban on what often is called “reparative” or “conversion” therapy.
Members of the
city’s Budget and Finance Committee praised Councilman Chris Seelbach for
introducing the proposed ordinance. Seelbach, the only openly gay member of the
council, explained his motivation with a brief acknowledgement that as a young
man, he has been subjected to the practice.
And although he did
not say the name, Seelbach referred to Leelah
Alcorn, the 17-year-old transgender girl in Warren County who died in a suicide Dec. 28 and left
an anguished note about undergoing “Christian therapy.”
“This is not a
partisan issue,” Seelbach said. “This is a matter of life and death for LGBT
young people.”
Councilman Kevin
Flynn, who voted yes, said that when the ordinance was proposed late last week,
“I was worried that this was something that the city couldn’t do. Not that we
shouldn’t do it. But I didn’t think we could do it. But with help from the city
solicitor’s office and in doing my own research over the weekend, I’ve come to
the conclusion that we must do it.”
Council members Amy
Murray and Charlie Winburn voted no. Murray said ahead of the vote that while
she did not know much about the subject, she had received email from
constituents saying, “Please don’t take this away, so that people can have this
option. … It’s obviously going to pass, but for all the other emails and
letters saying don’t take this option away, I probably can’t support it.”
Laura A. Haynes, a
Tustin, California, psychologist, emailed council members to say
she provides “sexual orientation change efforts” therapy. She was emphatic
in her opposition to the ordinance: "This bill restricts FREEDOM OF
SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY, A CLIENT'S RIGHT TO SELF
DETERMINATION, and PARENTS’ RIGHTS,” Haynes writes. “I URGE YOU TO OPPOSE
LEGISLATION AGAINST FREEDOM TO CHOOSE THERAPY FOR UNWANTED SAME SEX ATTRACTION
FOR TEENS.”
Most mental-health
professional organizations such as the American Psychological
Association have spoken out against the therapeutic practice as not useful
and possibly harmful to patients.
In addition to
Seelbach and Flynn, the other yes votes in committee came from David Mann,
Yvette Simpson, P.G. Sittenfeld, Christopher Smitherman and Wendell Young.
Joseph Bayly wrote
this comment on Dec. 7, 2015
NOTE: The text
of the law applies to “mental health professionals” while working with
minors. It only applies to those pastors that are licensed. The text of my
article has been slightly changed to account for that. I also changed the
title of the post, because people were being misled by it.]
At today’s meeting of the Cincinnati
City Council law and public safety committee, Council Member Chris Seelbach
“will propose an ordinance that would impose a $200-a-day fine on a therapist
or counselor practicing the therapy that aims to “change” lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals or transgender people from their sexual orientation or gender
identity,”according to Cincinnati.com.
According to the article it will
likely be a done deal on Wednesday of this week. Seelbach is
confident that he has the necessary votes both to make it out of
committee tonight and to pass it as law on Wednesday. Although a few states
have passed similar laws, no major city has done so, and Cincinnati.com is
exultant in claiming that Cincinnati is leading the way in such wickedness.
Watchman comments: (We are all sinners before God; the sin of lying or drinking excessively is no different than the sin of sexual immorality.
I also find it hard to believe that so-called Christian, Jesuit institutions like Xavier University are producing graduates like Chris Seelbach. I do not know if Chris is a practicing Roman Catholic or if he even claims to be a Christian but if he is I guess "anything goes" in the Roman Catholic church and in his form of Christianity these days. I am sure Chris will be much happier when the Muslims take over this country and impose Sharia law and he is executed for being "gay".)
Why “wickedness”? Because this law is
nothing less than a denial of the biblical doctrine of sanctification,
threatening fines of $73,000 per year to a counselor that uses 1
Corinthians 6:9-11 to help those caught in sin: “Or do you not know that
the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived;
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were
washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
In other words, those that refuse to
bow the knee to the idol of sexual anarchy being promoted across our land will
be forced to pay the price.
I’ve written before about this choice that
churches are going to face. Here is how I summed it up:
Every church in the country will have to decide
which side we are on and our decision and witness will be made public. After a
time of hemming and hawing, we’ll find we have only two options:
1. Publicly opposing
homosexual identity and relations by quoting Scripture.
2. Publicly promoting homosexual identity and relations by quoting Scripture.
2. Publicly promoting homosexual identity and relations by quoting Scripture.
It looks like pastors and churches in
Cincinnati will face this choice sooner rather than later. Now is a great
opportunity for churches to speak up for God’s holy law and the grace he
offers to sinners. This is not a political question. It is a question of
whether or not we are ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do we believe in the new birth that
Christ speaks of in John 3? Do we believe in the sanctification without which
no man will see God? Or do we fear man?
No more hemming and hawing. It’s time
to decide now. If your church is in Cincinnati, the choice has been set
before you. The Cincinnati City Council will meet this Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 2 p.m. in Council
Chambers, Room 300, City Hall, 801 Plum St, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
Please come and speak against this
anti-Christian persecution. Please ask your church leaders to be there
for the sake of Christians and for the sake of those tempted by sexual
perversion in our city.
[Edited to change “pastor” to “counselor”
and “church” to “people” in one place, so as to stop people
using this one detail to justify ignoring this proposed law.]
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