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A Ban On Conversion Therapy Has Now Passed Both Houses of the General Assembly

Marilyn Drew Necci | February 5, 2020

Topics: Adam Trimmer, Born Perfect, conversion therapy, Department of Health Professions, General Assembly 2020, Patrick Hope, Richmond city council, Scott Surovell, Virginia Beach City Council, Virginia Board of Psychology

Virginia’s as close as it’s ever been to banning conversion therapy for minors. And it seems likely we’ll get there before the end of the current General Assembly session.

On January 24, Virginia Senator Scott Surovell’s bill banning conversion therapy for minors passed the Senate. And on Monday, February 3, Delegate Patrick Hope’s similar bill passed the House of Delegates. These two advances put Virginia closer to passing a full ban on conversion therapy than it’s ever been. And it’s only taken the General Assembly’s transfer to Democratic control to make it happen.

In previous years, when Republicans controlled both houses of the state legislature, bills banning conversion therapy were repeatedly struck down, often never making it to a floor vote in the House Of Delegates. Advocates for the ban have instead had to work through other means.

They’ve been successful to an extent — the Virginia Board of Psychology and multiple state agencies within the Department of Health Professions have released guidance stating that conversion therapy is a violation of standard practice. Additionally, both Richmond and Virginia Beach City Councils have passed resolutions asking the General Assembly to enact a ban on conversion therapy.

While the bills must still go through the reconciliation process, in which each House passes the other’s bill and the bills are combined into one that can be sent to the governor for signing, the bills passed their biggest hurdle just by getting the initial votes needed to pass each house of the General Assembly. And Adam Trimmer, Virginia ambassador for anti-conversion therapy group Born Perfect, was grateful to see that happen.

“When I think about my experience, I get pretty angry,” Trimmer told WTVR, referring to his own experience undergoing conversion therapy. “I had years of my life taken away from me, and I’m excited that doesn’t have to happen with youth anymore.”

Top Photo By Varmin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia

Resolutions And Flags Aren’t Enough – LGBTQ Advocates Want Laws

VCU CNS | October 1, 2019

Topics: Adam Trimmer, Born Perfect, conversion therapy, Equality Virginia, General Assembly, James Parrish, Levar Stoney, Richmond city council

Three state regulatory boards have passed guidance to ban conversion therapy, but Virginia’s LGBTQ community wants laws passed that will outlaw the practice outright.

Adam Trimmer attended several of the Pride week events leading to Saturday’s VA PrideFest on Brown’s Island. 

The road to the LGBTQ community has been difficult for 30-year-old Trimmer. He considers himself a survivor of conversion therapy — a practice that uses physical or psychological tactics in an effort to change a person’s sexuality. Trimmer’s pastor recommended he start conversion therapy after a suicide attempt in college. Now Trimmer is the Virginia ambassador for Born Perfect, a campaign that seeks to end the practice.

“When you grow up being told that you’re going to hell, that is not something that you want, and I think that is why conversion therapy is so prevalent, especially in the South,” Trimmer said. “All we really want is to not feel ashamed of ourselves.” 

Though Pride flags were raised this week by Richmond’s mayor — whose resolution banning conversion therapy recently passed Richmond City Council — and three state regulatory boards have offered guidance to ban the practice, the LGBTQ community wants more.

They want legislators to pass a law banning the practice.

Members of Richmond’s City Council (Photo taken from Richmond’s City Council’s Facebook)

A resolution like Mayor Levar Stoney’s is nonbinding, and will not become a statewide law. Only the Virginia General Assembly has the power to ban the practice. Virginia is one of 31 states that does not have laws preventing conversion therapy, according to the Movement Advancement Project.

In the past, state legislators introduced laws on conversion therapy, but none of these bills passed the Senate floor:

  • SB262 – Introduced in January 2016 by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax. The bill prohibited any health care professionals from performing conversion therapy on minors and said that state funds could not be spent on the practice. In 2018, Surovell introduced an identical bill, SB 245, that also did not pass.
  • SB1773 – Introduced in January by Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico. The bill would require Virginia health boards to release regulations or guidance documents defining what conversion therapy is and what is deemed unprofessional conduct for minors.
  • SB1778 – Introduced in January by Sen. Steve Newman, R-Bedford. Would prohibit the usage of electroshock, aversion or any other physical treatments when performing conversion therapy on minors.

Three Virginia boards that advise mental health professions — the Board of Psychology, Board of Counseling, and Board of Social Work — all voted to prohibit conversion therapy on minors. The boards have the executive power to create a regulation change without legislative approval and to take disciplinary action against anyone who offers conversion therapy to minors. Virginia residents were allowed to weigh in on the proposed bans during a public comment period. 

Josh Hetzler, legislative counsel for The Family Foundation of Virginia, wrote that the boards’ guidance is “overtly at odds with the laws of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States.” The faith-based public policy group believes the ban usurps a parent’s right to make decisions concerning the upbringing of their child, and subjects them to “discrimination on the basis of religious conviction.” They believe it might not hold up to legal scrutiny.

Hetzler also referred to the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that “professional speech” receives the same First Amendment protection as ordinary speech.

The Virginia Catholic Conference, a public policy agency representing Virginia’s Catholic bishops and their two dioceses, is also against the ban.

“When minors have unwanted same-sex or mixed-sex attractions, they and their families should be free to seek counseling towards the resolutions they desire,” Jeff Caruso, VCC executive director, wrote in the forum. “Licensed professionals with years of education and experience should not be removed from the process of helping children work through these sensitive and deeply personal issues.” 

Caruso also said the ban would affect “the fundamental rights of parents for their children” as well as the “limits on regulatory authority that ensure consistency with the General Assembly.” 

The Trevor Project conducted an inaugural LGBTQ Youth Mental Health survey this year. The research concluded that a small percentage of LGBTQ youth undergo conversion therapy (5%) and that 42% of those who do attempt suicide. That’s compared to 17% of LGBTQ youth who attempt suicide but do not undergo conversion therapy. 

“I am proud that members of Richmond’s City Council joined me in opposing the inhumane and regressive practice of conversion therapy and affirming the sexual orientation and identities of all Richmonders,” Stoney said earlier this month on social media.

A rainbow flag was raised on Sept. 23, along with a trans flag and the Philly Pride Flag, for Richmond Pride. (Photo from City of Richmond Flickr account)

Equality Virginia, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, applauded Richmond’s leadership for taking the initiative to regulate conversion therapy.

“It’s exciting to see Richmond wanting to be vocal on this issue,” said James Parrish, executive director for Equality Virginia. But, he said, it is more important to see health professionals advocating for permanent, statewide change. 

Parrish and Equality Virginia hope the practice is banned in the state because mental health advocates believe it “mentally and physically harms people.”

“At the end of the day, we need everyone working to end this practice,” Parrish said.

Written by Christopher Brown, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Mayor Levar Stoney raising a rainbow flag on Sept. 23. (Photo from City of Richmond’s Flickr account)

Symbolic, But Important Nonetheless: Richmond City Council Bans Conversion Therapy

Marilyn Drew Necci | September 13, 2019

Topics: Adam Trimmer, conversion therapy, Dillon Rule, Equality Virginia, General Assembly, Levar Stoney, mental health, Richmond city council, Vee Lamneck

Due to Virginia law, the ban can’t be enforced. But by passing it, Richmond City Council still sends a powerful message.

On Monday, Richmond’s City Council passed a resolution enacting a ban on conversion therapy within the city. The resolution, which is non-binding, was proposed by Mayor Levar Stoney, and received unanimous support from the nine members of City Council.

Conversion therapy, as many of us in Virginia’s LGBTQ community know all too well, is the practice of attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity through therapeutic processes that are unscientific and often religiously based. A 2018 study published in the Journal Of Homosexuality found that participants in the study who’d undergone conversion therapy were five times more likely to have attempted suicide than those who hadn’t.

Over the past year, three different state boards regulating mental health caregivers have banned the practice by refusing approval for those who engage in conversion therapy. However, multiple attempts at passing bills in the General Assembly to ban conversion therapy in Virginia outright have failed in the House Of Delegates. Most recently in 2019’s General Assembly, a Senate bill introduced by 23rd District Virginia Senator Stephen D. Newman passed the Senate, but failed to make it out of committee in the House Of Delegates.

In a statement, Mayor Stoney praised the City Council’s decision, saying, “I am proud that members of Richmond’s City Council joined me in opposing the inhumane and regressive practice of conversion therapy and affirming the sexual orientation and identities of all Richmonders.”

The vote is, unfortunately, non-binding and symbolic. As a Dillon Rule state, Virginia requires any law passed by localities within the Commonwealth to align exactly with the laws passed by the state government. Therefore, without the passage of a state law banning conversion therapy, the City of Richmond has no legal ability to enforce a ban within city limits.

Nonetheless, activists were pleased by the verdict. Speaking to WTVR, Equality Virginia Deputy Director Vee Lamneck pointed out that this decision was a first in Virginia, and remains important despite its symbolic nature.

Conversion therapy survivor Adam Trimmer, who runs the conversion therapy survivors support group Love Actually Won RVA and is the Virginia ambassador for national anti-conversion therapy campaign Born Perfect, spoke of his experience during the public comment period for City Council’s resolution, and was thankful that they went on to pass the resolution.

“We are finally being heard and hopefully this can stop happening to our community,” he told WTVR. “I hope that the members of the General Assembly see this, and I hope they see [that] Mayor Stoney and City of Richmond support our efforts to protect the LGBTQ+ youth.”

Photo: GayRVA archives

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