On Saturday, California became the first state in the nation to sign into law a prohibition on mental health intervention to address a child’s homosexual or bisexual proclivities. It also prohibits therapy to address “transgendered” children. It applies to all children under 18 years of age.

In a statement issued upon the signing of the new legislation, Governor Jerry Brown stated that “These practices have no basis in science or medicine, and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery.”

Specifically, the law bans “any practices by mental health providers that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.” If a practitioner violates the law, he or she will face adverse licensing action by the “licensing entity for that mental health provider.” In other words, the offending mental health professional will likely lose his or her license.

A number of groups opposed the new law including California’s Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays. Calling the bill unconstitutional, the group told legislators that, “As parents of gays and ex-gays, we are ashamed of your willingness to take action against parents, children, and the family in order to support gay activists…California is not a socialist state and our children do not belong to the government, subject to the ideology of the state over the objections of their parents.”

One conservative California group has pointed out that this “is what you get with Democrats in charge” and suggests the legislature should consider Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.”