Gentlepersons:

I am writing today to express my concern that conversion therapy for children under 18 who are members of the LGBTQ community is still allowed in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  It is harmful and dangerous to the child and it doesn’t work.  Most importantly, there’s nothing wrong with being gay.  It’s simply the way some people are born.  Conversion therapy makes children who may already be struggling with being different, think that they are ill and need to be “fixed” through conversion therapy.  It doesn’t work and has horrific emotional effects on the child! 

Side by Side, is a 25-year old organization that works with LGBTQ children. In their paper, “Why Conversion Therapy Doesn’t Work,” they quote Robert Spitzer, a former researcher and supporter of conversion therapy, as saying about the practice:  “…the simple fact is that there is no way to determine if the participants’ accounts of change were valid. I believe I owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of reparative therapy. I also apologize to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative therapy because they believed that I had proven that reparative therapy works...” [Citation: Darlene Bogle, Michael Bussee, and Jeremy Marks, Apology From Ex-Gay Leaders https://beyondexgay.com/article/apology.html]   If someone like Spitzer now denounces it, why is conversion therapy still being allowed?

In that same publication, they also quote the American Association of Pediatrics as stating that “…LGBTQ+ people suffer from the homophobia and transphobia inherent in conversion therapy. This marginalization negatively affects health, mental health, and educational experiences. Other negative impacts of conversion therapy include depression, thoughts and attempts of suicide, substance abuse, social anxiety, altered body image, and other mental health issues.”  [Citation: Sandra G. Hassink, MD, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Support Letter https://lieu.house.gov/sites/lieu.house.gov/files/documents/AAP%20support%20letter%20conversion%20therapy%20ban.Pdf]

There are numerous studies and historical archives to show that gay people have been in this world as long as we’ve had recorded history.  I was actually taught that in the late 1960’s in a class at what was then known as George Mason College of UVA. The professor referred to several studies showing that being gay was normal and accepted in ancient China.  And indigenous Americans had four or five descriptions of gender depending on their tribes.  If the ancients accepted it, why is it so difficult for people today who consider themselves to be well-educated to understand what is simply another normal way of life.

It’s difficult enough growing up in today’s world for all children regardless of their sexual orientation. Many children are in traditional therapy for anxieties and other actual life-related issues. To force a child into reparative therapy to “cure” them of something that isn’t wrong should be considered malpractice and treated as such by the mental health community and state licensing officials.

Is it easy being gay?  No, I have family members and friends who are gay.  They have told me some of the issues they’ve had to face, and some are still facing.  I also have friends who are now divorced from their former husbands and wives, the parents of their children, who were finally able to accept their own sexual identity. They came out to their partners and started living a life where they could be their whole, authentic self.  Isn’t that what all of us wants in this world?  To be loved and accepted for who we are, exactly as we are?  Members of the GLBTQ community are no different.

My Mother was the daughter of Polish immigrants and had to drop out of school at the age of 15.  She was also a devout Catholic.  Over 55 years ago she told me, “God doesn’t make mistakes. Some people are just different than others.”  My Mother would be 110 years old if she was still with us and even she understood and accepted people as they were.  Why are people who are trained “therapists” unwilling to see that and are still forcing conversion therapy upon children?  Maybe instead, they need to work with the families to help them understand that their child is fine just the way they are.

Please OPPOSE so called conversion therapy in Virginia for youth under 18.

                                                                                                             Sincerely,

                                                                                                             Patricia S. Hagan