The California state Senate’s debate and vote on a controversial bill banning so-called conversion therapy has been delayed due to public outcry against the legislation, sources say.

Known as AB 2943, the bill passed in the state assembly earlier this year and seeks to declare therapy for individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions or who want to leave homosexuality a fraudulent practice. 

The bill was scheduled to come up for debate on the Senate floor last Thursday before the beginning of the summer recess but Evan Low, the Democrat Assemblyman who sponsored the legislation, opted to delay debate until the state legislators return in early August.

“This has been one of the most controversial bills that we’ve seen in California in the five years I’ve been at California Family Council,” said Jonathan Keller, the organization’s president, in an interview with OneNewsNow.

Keller attributes the delay to the immense pushback that lawmakers received from people across the state and nation.

“We’ve had national organizations — Focus on the Family, Alliance Defending Freedom, American Family Radio — tons of people all across the country that realize this is a blatant attack on the First Amendment, on free speech, on the free exercise of religion,” he said.

The bill states that “advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual” is against the law under the state’s consumer fraud statute and would mean that the bill would forbid the distribution resources, the selling of books, and offering counseling to someone looking for help with gender confusion and homosexuality, among other things.

Sources involved in the matter told The Christian Post on Wednesday that Low is now wanting to meet with representatives of churches whose pastors and lay leaders have objected to the bill in an effort to seek input for how it might be amended. Low’s staff reportedly met with one such church representative on Saturday. Yet the churches message was that no amendment can improve the bill and that it needs to fail.

Sources also noted that in light of the Supreme Court’s June ruling in favor of a network of crisis pregnancy centers in NIFLA v. Becerra — which held that the pro-life pregnancy centers were not required to advertise for abortion services as a California law said they must — they believe that AB 2943 would be defeated in court.

Full story at The Christian Post.