General Assembly Notebook: Bill would prohibit 'conversion therapy'

Posted: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 11:34 am | Updated: 11:43 am, Tue Jan 19, 2016.

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Del. Patrick A. Hope, D-Arlington, is again promoting a bill to prohibit licensed health care professionals from conducting “conversion therapy” for minors in Virginia.

“Conversion therapy is based on the false assumption that homosexuality is a mental disorder or a sin,” Hope said in a statement. “Well, it is not. There is no on/off switch to sexual orientation.”

Hope added: “It is very clear that organized medicine maintains that sexual orientation is not changeable, that conversion therapies do irreparable harm, and that conversion therapies should not be practiced in the commonwealth of Virginia.”

Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia, said
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