Will this be the year that ex-gay therapy on minors gets banned in Virginia? – LGBTQ Nation

With bills in the House and Senate, advocates, legislators and survivors gathered at the General Assembly building in Richmond Sunday to decry the practice of ex-gay therapy and approach a long passed-over topic with new hope.

The practice, which aims to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity through controversial psychological means, was called “dangerous” by Delegate Patrick Hope (D-43), the sponsor of HB 427. The senate versions of the bill are  SB 262 and SB 267.

Hope, who has supported similar legislation for three years in a row, said conversion therapy stems from the false idea that “LGTBQ people, particularly children, are broken and some how need to be fixed.”

“There’s not an on/off switch [for sexuality],” he said.

Senator Scott Surovell (D-44), who has championed pro-LGBTQ bills in the past, joined Hope in submitting a Senate version of a bill which also aims to ban the practice on youth.
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The argument that ex-gay therapy is a kind of consumer fraud is something other sates, like New Jersey, have used to pass legislation banning the practice, but the bills discussed today didn’t include those concerns. This fraud angle is something Hope suggested the Attorney General’s office could look into and get behind, and AVP President Scott Price said fraud language might be included in future versions depending on the AG’s interest.

Other senator’s who have co-signed onto this legislation include Favola (who was in attendance for today’s event), McEachin, Dance, Lucas, and Ebbin.

Will this be the year that ex-gay therapy on minors gets banned in Virginia? – LGBTQ Nation

ADDENDUM::Lawmaker responds to anti-gay billboard with bill to ban ‘ex-gay’ therapy for minors – LGBTQ Nation

A Virginia state lawmaker says he will bring a bill before the 2015 General Assembly aimed at banning gay-to-straight conversion therapy on LGBT youth.

The announcement by Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington County) comes just days after a controversial billboard was erected along a Richmond interstate by a group that supports the practice.

“There’s is no on/off switch for sexual orientation, and putting this bill in is necessary to send that message,” said Hope.

The bill would prohibit licensed healthcare professionals from performing the controversial therapy (also referred to as “reparative therapy) on minors.

Hope says “ex-gay,” or conversion therapy, is based on the false assumption being gay is a mental disorder.

Proponents of the treatment argue that bans limit freedom of speech, and infringes on the rights of parents to treat their children as they see fit.

But Hope, and the medical community, disagrees.

Lawmaker responds to anti-gay billboard with bill to ban ‘ex-gay’ therapy for minors – LGBTQ Nation