An online petition is calling for Cloverdale-Langley City MP Tamara Jansen to step down in the wake of her comments during a debate on a conversion therapy bill in the House of Commons earlier this month.

Jansen used a bible quote that included the word “unclean” when responding to Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, who was speaking in favour of the Bill C-6, which bans so-called conversion therapy for minors.

Conversion therapy is a pseudoscientific method of attempting to change an LGBTQ person’s sexual or gender orientation. There is no evidence that it works, and it is opposed at any age by medical groups including the Canadian Psychological Association.

“Regardless of what context Jansen was using this verse, it is extremely offensive to members of the LGBTQIA2+ community,” said the petition, started by Matthew Plaskett.

“Someone of this platform and power should be held accountable for their blatantly homophobic action,” the petition also said.

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Jansen has said it was a misunderstanding, and she did not mean to call LGBTQ people unclean, and has apologized to Oliphant.

She has also drawn criticism for the story she told about a young Alberta woman who sought counselling because she wanted to stop “lesbian activity.”

Jansen did not vote in opposition to Bill C-6, which passed with an overwhelming majority of MPs from all parties, including the Conservatives. She abstained from voting due to her objections to some of the bill’s wording.

As of Tuesday morning, the petition had more than 480 signatures.

Petitions cannot remove sitting Members of Parliament, nor can they be removed from office.

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