January 5th, 2022
An unlicensed pastoral counselor took me to lunch one-day when I was a young man and taught me some basic life-truths that eventually led me to Christ. It was this conversation that changed my eternal destiny from hell to heaven. It also set me on a path to pursue higher education that would help me learn how to help individuals apply Scripture to their lives in such a way that they might see Christ and be changed like I had been. Since 2013 I have been seeking to share the gospel in what the state of Indiana has recognized as “pastoral counseling” settings and it has been incredible to watch what God has done with those circumstances. Pastoral Counseling led me to Christ and pastoral counseling has helped others in my life see Christ more clearly.
In December, my mother-in-law sent me a link that led me to West Lafayette’s Ordinance 31-21. I was a little surprised by what was in the ordinance, but after some investigation found that it hadn’t passed yet; that it was being tabled for the time being. I pondered the best approach to dealing with this and then decided to leave it be for now since it was the holidays, being tabled, and likely wasn’t going to be dealt with until after the holidays.
On Monday of this week, Albert Mohler discussed on his podcast The Briefing, the fact that Canada is passing a law that is the most comprehensive anti-conversion therapy law and Britain is considering a similar proposal. Typically when Europe and Canada passes legislation on topics, it’s not long before the USA takes note and begins implementing similar pieces of legislation. So, I decided I would likely write a blog about the recent coinciding legislation and discuss its implications.
But then yesterday I was sent an email from a prominent biblical counseling ministry in my community indicating that they were aware of West Lafayette’s Ordinance 31-21. They pointed to the Albert Mohler podcast and John McArthur’s letter that he sent on December 22nd and that it was an issue even in our community. They were actively fighting this behind the scenes but were not making much progress. The counseling ministry indicated a coalition of churches have launched a new organization called Lafayette Citizens for Freedom that is being used to help inform and resist this legislation. Apparently, the issue is more of a pressing problem than I realized.
So, what’s the big deal about West Lafayette’s Ordinance 31-21? It’s an ordinance that threatens both parents and unlicensed counselor’s (pastors, chaplains, or any other person) with a fine of $1,000/day for engaging in anything deemed to be “conversion therapy” with a minor. This means that a scouting leader that is in charge of a group of boys that provides a biblical definition of sexuality could be liable to a $1,000 fine each day they have an “offense”. And since the ordinance covers all “unlicensed persons” and the definition of Conversion Therapy in the ordinance is so broad, it could include a threat to parents, grandparents, family and even friends of any minor that addresses this topic. Rob Green wrote about this on the Lafayette Citizens For Freedom blog here.
It’s government overreach at the least and is an attack on religious freedom and parental rights at worst. The bill not only threatens my role as a parent but also my role as a “pastoral counselor” (I am not a pastor in a church, but am by Indiana’s definition engaging in pastoral counseling), and as a chaplain of a Trail Life troop. This is a serious concern and threat because if passed, this opens the door for further legislation mirroring Canada’s and Britain’s legislation.
What Can You Do?
There are three steps (there are actually more if you take the third step) that you can do to help. I’ll list them below. In the action packet in step 3, there is the ability to email each of the council members individually to share your thoughts and opinions. Please consider helping us.
- The first step you can do is pray. God is still on His throne and regardless of what happens, He is in control. Seek His help in dealing with this issue. Pray for the Council Members both to make the right decision and to have wisdom in how to govern all of the West Lafayette citizens.
- Sign the petition here.
- Download the action packet here. Note, the action steps to make a comment at the City Council meeting were pertaining to a meeting held yesterday online. I was unaware of the meeting until this morning when I was preparing this blog. If you were at this meeting, I would love to know how it went.
Update: January 5th, 2022, 1:19 PM
Notes from last night’s city council meeting were posted here. One of the sponsors, (Councilor Sanders), had the ordinance amended to remove the “behaviors” aspect of the ordinance to help reduce some of the vagueness but have stated that they intend to continue to support this ordinance because conversion therapy is considered pseudo-science by professional counseling organizations and because the practice is “highly disrespectful to important members of our community”. The ordinance has been tabled until February’s meeting.
Update: January 18th, 2022, 6:03 PM
After talking about this briefly with another individual following this ordinance yesterday evening , I was made aware that the documents from the last city council meeting contained more than the notated three pages of the previous meeting which included the documents from prior meetings. There was a history of conversation in these documents regarding this matter that I obviously missed. I apologize for not doing the due diligence to see this. On the meeting of December 6th, 2021, Councilor Parker was the councilor who indicated that the ordinance should be tabled because the public had made clear that the language needed reworked. Councilor Leverenz seconded the movement. Councilor Sanders and DeBoer both moved to add the sentence below to the end of Sec. 4 Enforcement,
“This ordinance shall
not be construed or enforced in any manner that infringes upon the United States Constitution
First Amendment rights or Indiana State Constitution Article I rights of any person or organization.”
Councilor Sanders did indicate that this language was an attempt to protect the freedoms protected in the U.S. and State constitutions. Councilor Leverenz indicated that there was a lot of ambiguity in the ordinance and expressed multiple points at which the bill was vague and that other lawsuits and and court decisions brought some concern. Councilor Parker agreed. Mayor John Dennis went on to express a clear concern about the ambiguity of the ordinance and how it would be enforced. His remarks are longer than any of the others but are worth reading. I will not try to summarize them here. This was prior to all of the above events that led to the original posting of this blog.
The ordinance was tabled until January, the last meeting (see previous update above). At this meeting, two words were removed and some questions posed but the amendment was again tabled. Because the comments in December’s meeting came before the announcement from a prominent biblical counseling ministry that they were not making much progress on dissuading the passage of this ordinance, I have to assume these comments were considered in prior to making the announcement and it was still deemed worthy of letting people know of the concern. However, these comments do bring some hope that the ordinance will not pass as is and that there is some work still being done on it.
Be prayerful and be confident that God is still in control.
Update: January 19th, 2022, 2:37 PM
Last week, I emailed R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary via his website’s “Contact Us” form regarding this issue, and today he included this ordinance on his podcast “The Briefing“. It sounds like he has possibly had other’s contact him about this issue, but it was exciting to hear his viewpoint on this issue. The link above can take you directly to today’s podcast.
Update: February 6th, 2022 5:18 PM
The pre-council meeting last week amended the ordinance a third time, the link in this update has the most recent update. This update is intended to make three changes which Councilor Sanders indicates are to exclude parents and legal guardians as “unlicensed counselors”, that the enforcement is only upon complaint by youth or parents, and to exclude city funds from being used for conversion therapy. It also is noted that there is a recommendation to the State to pass legislation banning conversion therapy. The definition of Conversion Therapy then is still considerably broad, extends the potential for this to encourage bans at a state level, and subsequently opens the door for any city funds to be withheld from any organization that would support or promote anything that could fall under this broad definition of conversion therapy. Tomorrow evening, a city council meeting will take place. Please be in prayer. If you visit the site https://www.freedomlafayette.org/ you can find a place to send emails to the council members. Please consider sending them an email letting them know your opposition to this ordinance.
Update: February 7th, 2022 7:05 PM
The ordinance has been revoked! The meeting was filled with a great deal of accusations and some concerning language about wanting to identify unlicensed counselors, but the ordinance was officially revoked. This page will remain active for a number of weeks as we seek to let people know the ordinance has been revoked. I am grateful for those who have spoken out against this ordinance.