NYT: Virginia Is First Southern State to Ban Conversion Therapy for Minors
Virginia became the first Southern state to ban licensed medical professionals from practicing conversion therapy on minors, as Democrats in the state pass expansive civil rights bills after gaining control of the legislature and governor’s mansion for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Conversion therapy — a widely discredited practice based on the premise that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer is a mental illness — attempts to change someone’s sexual identity or gender orientation through different procedures that could include shock therapy.
On Monday, Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill that made Virginia the 20th state to ban the practice for minors.
“No one should be made to feel wrong for who they are — especially not a child,” Mr. Northam said in a statement on Tuesday. “Conversion therapy is not only based in discriminatory junk-science, it is dangerous and causes lasting harm to our youth.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/us/va-conversion-therapy-ban.html
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