Family Groups and LGBT Activist Uniting Against Bill That Could Make Pedophiles a Protected Class

The Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford, Conn., on May 4, 2020. John Moore/Getty Images

In an unlikely alliance, Christian family values groups and an LGBT activist have signed a petition against a proposed Connecticut bill they say could make pedophiles a protected sexual minority.

The bill, HB 6638, would revise the language of the state’s anti-discrimination statutes.

The current definition of “sexual orientation” in Connecticut law excludes protections for “any behavior that is a sex offense crime.” An update to the law would remove that wording.

Transgender activist Christine Rebstock opposes a Connecticut bill that could make pedophilia a protected sexual orientation. Courtesy of Christine Rebstock

“If Governor [Ned] Lamont signs it, a person who admits they are a pedophile—even if they haven’t acted on it but just admit it—they could just go to an appeal board if they get fired from a job or denied housing near a school,” said transgender activist Christine Rebstock.

The bill would redefine sexual orientation as “a person’s identity in relation to the gender or genders to which they are romantically, emotionally, or sexually attracted, including any identity that a person may have previously expressed or is perceived by another person to hold.”

Because of that critics are sounding the alarm, fearing the new legal language could make it unlawful to fire an employee with a sexual attraction for children—even one working at a business focused on serving minors.

“Employers are going to have to be more cautious about how they interact with potential employees,” Leslie Wolfgang, public policy director of the Family Institute of Connecticut (FIC), told The Epoch Times.

“They won’t be able to discriminate based on their sexual attraction.”

The new bill was sponsored by Rep. Dominique Johnson (D), Rep. Hubert Delaney (D), Rep. Jeff Currey (D), Sen. Gary Winfield (D), and Rep. Tom Delniki (R).

It has passed both chambers of the legislature and now awaits signing by Lamont, a Democrat.

The Epoch Times contacted the bill’s sponsors but received no response by publication time.

Major Problems With Minor Attraction

Current law in Connecticut protects people from facing discrimination due to their heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual “preference.”

But radical gender ideology activists felt that this carve-out wasn’t big enough, said Peter Wolfgang.

Wolfgang is the executive director of FIC, a Christian family values promotion group, and is married to Leslie Wolfgang.

“Our concern is, the language of the [proposed] bill was written so vaguely that it could allow for other categories to be protected that they probably may not have even intended to be included,” Peter Wolfgang said. “Pedophiles is one. There are others.”

The law doesn’t legalize pedophilia, polygamy, or bestiality. But if signed into law, the new language could be interpreted to give protections to people who practice those sex crimes, critics argue.

The process of pedophiles seeking legal protections under the proposed law’s language likely would be gradual, not “overnight,” Peter Wolfgang said. But “after everything that we’ve lived through for the last 20 years, can anyone really claim that these definitions will not evolve?”

“If you’ve got someone who hasn’t committed the crime but is openly professing that that’s what his attraction is on social media, our concern is that you will not be able to discriminate against this person,” he said.

Under the proposed law, even if someone expresses a desire to have sexual encounters with children, it could be considered unlawful discrimination to fire him or her from a job working with children, such as driving a school bus or working in a preschool.

Peter Wolfgang (R), executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, and Leslie Wolfgang, the institute's public policy director. Courtesy of Leslie Wolfgang

However, Peter Wolfgang said, the law provides an example of something best-selling conservative writer Rod Dreher calls the Law of Merited Impossibility.

This phrase describes a phenomenon often seen in flashpoint culture-war issues.

One side will argue that a controversial activity or policy will never happen, but then—when it does—that same side will accuse opponents of bigotry for previously opposing it.

An example is how many on the political Left denied the existence of child sex-change procedures. Then, when the procedures became undeniable, they defended them, Wolfgang said.

Not Pedophiles, ‘MAPs’

Leslie Wolfgang is concerned about how the proposed law creates protected sexual identities based on “attraction.” That will make hiring and firing decisions more challenging for employers, she said, especially when it comes to people attracted to children.

The pedophile community has created terms such as “MAP,” which means Minor-Attracted Person, to avoid using the word “pedophile.”

“Employers are going to have to be more cautious about how they interact with potential employees,” Leslie Wolfgang said. “They won’t be able to discriminate based on their sexual attraction.”

Rebstock fears the bill is one of many that seek to give legal protections to adults who want to interact sexually with children.

Though identifying as transgender, Rebstock—a man who identifies as a woman—doesn’t support the “sexualization of children and medical transition for minor-aged kids.”

Adding language that could offer legal protection to pedophiles is happening in other states, as well.

Children cheer as drag performers dance at the Chattanooga Pride parade in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Oct. 2, 2022. Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times

In Minnesota, state House Rep. Leigh Finkey, a Democrat, had proposed removing words from a Minnesota anti-discrimination bill that excluded adults who want to have sex with children from the list of protected categories.

Finkey, who sponsored the bill, is a man who identifies as a woman.

The proposed Minnesota bill would define “sexual orientation” as “emotional, physical, or sexual attachment to another person.”

It also would remove from existing Minnesota law the stipulation that “sexual orientation does not include a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult.”

So the bill would clarify anti-discrimination protection for people, regardless of their orientation.

Later in the legislative process, the Minnesota House unanimously passed an amendment clarifying that “the physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult is not a protected class under this chapter.”

In its current form, the bill would amend existing law to make “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” separate legally protected groups. It also adjusts language on gender identity.

Under current law, the clause on sexual orientation includes people “having or being perceived as having a self-image or identity not traditionally associated with one’s biological maleness or femaleness.”

The new law would define gender identity as “a person’s inherent sense of being a man, woman, both, or neither.”

Protection for Pedophiles

As a man who has transitioned to living as a woman, Rebstock has faced heavy criticism from progressives and transgender-identifying people for taking a stand against language that may protect pedophiles.

But if the Connecticut bill is signed into law, a school bus driver who openly announces his sexual desire for children can’t be fired for that, Rebstock said with incredulity.

“And what’s in his mind when he sees these kids?” Rebstock asked. “Is he going to be lusting over a 10-year-old kid who is defenseless?”

Opposing that, Rebstock said, is just the right thing to do.