Virginia has always done well to protect religious freedoms and the personal rights of individuals.  Please do not allow a ban or restrictions through regulations on reparative or conversion therapy.  Restricting what a Counselor can talk about will only hurt those who struggle with identity confusion.  

Restrictions or bans on conversion therapy will restrict the religious freedoms of families who wish to seek Counseling that that is aligned with their faith.  

Some young people claim they want to identify with a different gender.  However, they also can change their minds later on.  Two years ago a teenage girl close to our family thought she wanted to identify as a male. She changed her mind, and I am grateful that she was able to do that on her own without the pressure from counselors to push her to remain something she now knows she is not.  She was able to research both sides of the lifestyle and did a lof of therapy to determine she was indeed a female and wants to remain that way.

Thank you for protecting the freedom of Virginia families to acquire the counseling they choose.