Providing Biblical Counseling To Youth Will Be Illegal In Cincinnati

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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 

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.

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.]