For the past month or so, WorldNetDaily has been spreading fake news about a proposed California law to ban anti-gay conversion therapy, claiming that it bans the Bible. WND’s Bob Unruh rehashes the fake news once again in a June 5 article:
Californians who don’t want their lawmakers to ban the Bible, to criminalize counselors who help people with same-sex attractions and to dictate their moral values apparently will have one chance to tell them.
That’s at a hearing before the legislature’s Judiciary Committee on June 12, where AB 2943 will be discussed.
[…]It would make counseling against same-sex lifestyles a crime by calling it “consumer fraud.”
The bill also would ban printed materials that advocate for ways to become free of unwanted same-sex attractions. And several experts contend the broadly written proposal could ban sale of the Bible.
Unruh is simply repeating politically motivated lies. He hides the fact that the bill’s sponsors specifically state that the bill does not ban the Bible — it simply bans conversion therapy as a commercial service.
Interestingly, at no point in his quoting of opposition to the bill does Unruh quote anyone offering proof of the efficacy of conversion therapy.
Given that publishing fake news was a key reason WND almost died earlier this year (even if Joseph Farah won’t acknowledge it), shouldn’t it be more careful about what it publishes?