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

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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

Virginia LGBTQ Advocates Hoping For Big Gains in General Assembly This Year

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For the first time in over a generation, Democrats control both houses of the General Assembly, and advocates are working to ensure that this has positive results for Virginia’s LGBTQ community.

It hasn’t been all that many years since the dawn of a new General Assembly session meant just as many proposed bills designed to diminish LGBTQ rights and further discrimination against us as bills designed to improve the lives of LGBTQ Virginians. That’s changed in recent years, notably with the ending of Bob Marshall’s term in the House Of Delegates, but continued Republican control of both houses of the General Assembly meant that the many pro-LGBTQ bills that were proposed never made it out of committee.

This week, everything changes. The Democrats are in control not only of the Governor’s Office but both houses of the General Assembly. This is the first time that’s been true since 1993, before many of our readers were born, and it has the potential to make a lot of improvements in the civil rights and legal status of LGBTQ Virginians.

State Senator Jennifer McClellan agrees, and called the Democratic electoral victory a “huge deal” in a recent conversation with Virginia Mercury. McClellan has sponsored SB 66, which would amend the Virginia Fair Housing Deal make it illegal for landlords to refuse to rent to someone on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“I think that is an area where we would have been able to make some progress had it not been for Republicans in the House who wouldn’t even hear legislation,” McClellan told Virginia Mercury.

Indeed, many of these measures passed in the state Senate in previous sessions, even when it was under Republican control. However, Republican leadership in the House Of Delegates often refused to even hear discussion of pro-LGBTQ bills, either in committees or full sessions of the House. Now, with Democrats in the driver’s seat, LGBTQ advocates see hope on the horizon.

James Parrish. Photo courtesy Equality Virginia.

“There is an opportunity to pass legislation that supports Virginia’s LGBTQ community more broadly than just nondiscrimination protection,” James Parrish told the Virginia Mercury. Parrish, until recently the executive director of Equality Virginia, stepped down on January 1 in order to lead the Virginia Values Coalition, a newly formed pro-LGBTQ advocacy organization bringing together groups like Virginia’s ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, and the National Center for Transgender Equality under a single banner.

Indeed, many issues are on the table for this upcoming session. Currently, only employees for the government and state contractors are protected from firing based on sexual orientation or gender identity — and those employees are only protected in a temporary fashion. One of Ralph Northam’s first acts as governor was to sign an executive order replicating one previously signed by Terry McAuliffe during his gubernatorial administration, protecting LGBTQ state employees from firing. However, if a less LGBTQ-friendly governor were elected in 2021 and decided not to sign a similar executive order, that protection would disappear.

The new Democratic leadership of the General Assembly are certainly in a position to create a more permanent law protecting public employees against discrimination; indeed, SB 159, introduced by Senator Jennifer Boysko, does exactly that. But advocates see an opportunity to protect more than public employees; Parrish told the Virginia Mercury that advocates are hoping for the passage of a bill that protects all LGBTQ employees, public and private. “We anticipate getting a lot of corporate support for it,” Parrish told the Mercury.

SB 23, introduced by Senator Adam Ebbin, would enact exactly this sort of employment protection. Ebbin, one of five LGBTQ members of the General Assembly, says that a positive change like this has been a long time coming.

“It’s a big deal to know that you can’t just be swept aside as a second-class citizen,” he told the Virginia Mercury. “And it’ll matter. There’s a lot of people older than me who thought this kind of environment would never come.”

Senator Adam Ebbin. Photo By EbbinForVirginia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia

Another big push from advocates is to ban conversion therapy in Virginia. While the Virginia Board of Psychology and multiple other state agencies within the Department of Health Professions have released guidance stating that conversion therapy is considered a violation of standard practice, it is still technically legal within the state. Both Richmond and Virginia Beach’s City Councils have passed resolutions asking the General Assembly to ban the practice, and Senator Scott Surovell, who has been attempting to pass a ban for multiple previous sessions, has introduced SB 245 in hopes of doing exactly that. A similar bill in the House Of Delegates, HB 386, has been proposed by Delegate Patrick Hope.

There are other issues on the table as well; bills in both the House and Senate would require the Department of Education to create a statewide policy determining how Virginia’s schools would interact with transgender students. Both bills mandate “a safe and supportive learning environment free from discrimination and harassment for all students.” Bills introduced in the House and Senate also add sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as disability, to the list of classes protected by hate crime legislation.

Multiple bills and resolutions in the Senate attempt to remove the Marshall-Newman Amendment, the 2006 amendment to Virginia’s Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman, from the constitution. While this may seem strictly symbolic now, the Supreme Court’s more conservative shift in recent years, with the addition of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, leave some concerned that federal protections for marriage equality, currently protected only by Supreme Court precedent, may be challenged in the near future.

If the Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case, Virginia’s Constitution might once again become the top legal authority on marriage within the Commonwealth. If the Marshall-Newman Amendment remained on the books in such an event, all same-sex marriages within Virginia would immediately lose government recognition. This isn’t an outcome anyone wants, and therefore the passage of bills like Senator John Edwards’ SB 39, which repeals the Marshall-Newman Amendment, are more important than some might think at first.

While not all of the pro-LGBTQ bills currently facing the General Assembly will necessarily pass, it seems likely that the overall legal picture for LGBTQ Virginians will be considerably brighter by the end of the 2020 General Assembly session. And that’s a wonderful thing.

“We’ve come forward. We’re not going back,” Ebbin told the Virginia Mercury. “And I think there’s momentum to bring us to where we should and need to be.”

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

Panel Brings Trans Issues to Light, Offers Opportunity for Dialogue

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“Guess what? I am a transgender woman and I am just like everybody else.”

Keri Abrams was addressing an audience of about 35 people at the “Ask a Trans Person” panel at Chesterfield Central Library earlier this week. Equality Virginia — an advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Virginians — hosted the event to facilitate transgender visibility and inspire community building by inviting questions from the audience. 

The discussion included inquires about how to gain confidence being trans, choosing a gender-affirming name, and how family and friends can offer support. The panelists discussed their different experiences, including coming out and transitioning. The audience was first encouraged to write anonymous questions on note cards and later to ask questions in front of the group. Most of the questions were about opportunities to support the transgender community, or questions regarding the panelists’ personal experiences. 

A recurring topic was the lack of legal protections for transgender people in Virginia. In January 2018, Gov. Ralph Northam signed into effect Executive Order Number One to ensure equal opportunity in state government. The order prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, political affiliation or against persons with disabilities. However, the Executive Order only protects public employees, and will expire with the end of Northam’s term.

This year several nondiscrimination bills failed to pass the General Assembly. These included HB 2067, which would have prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in public employment, and SB 1109, which would have categorized discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as an unlawful housing practice.

“A lot of people don’t know that we are not protected,” Abrams said. “They assume that, you know, everybody else is protected. But we’re not. We can lose jobs, we can be denied jobs, we can be denied housing, we can be thrown out of housing, and we won’t even get into homeless shelters.” 

Keri Abrams spoke at Equality Virginia’s “Ask a Trans Person” panel at Chesterfield Central Library this Tuesday. Photo by Susan Shibut, VCU-CNS

Panelist Zakia McKensey said she experienced discrimination while trying to find an office space for Nationz Foundation, a nonprofit organization she founded to help the LGBTQ community have access to health resources and education. She said her inquiries into available spaces were repeatedly denied without an explanation after visiting.

“We should be protected, we should have the same rights, same opportunities,” McKensey said.

Panelist Andrew, who asked to be referred to only by his first name because he fears being fired, said he wants more protection in university housing, more inclusive high school sports policies and recognition of the significance of pronouns.

“Imagine being in a lecture hall of 250 people and the professor calls you by the wrong pronoun in front of all your classmates,” Andrew said.

In 2014 the Virginia High School League approved participation in public school sports by transgender athletes, but they would be required to have undergone sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy. VHSL has since updated the policy to allow transgender athletes who have verified medical documentation as having a consistent identity different than the gender listed on their birth certificate or school registration to participate.

Andrew said the VHSL almost prevented him from playing sports in high school.

All three panelists also said that health care is a difficult system for transgender people to navigate. 

“So many times we go into places needing health-related services, and we end up teaching medical practitioners what we need,” McKensey said. 

Equality Virginia Program Coordinator Thalia Hernandez led the panel. Photo by Susan Shibut, VCU-CNS

Health care access, workplace protections and housing protections are all on Equality Virginia’s “checklist” of important issues to address for the LGBTQ community. The list also includes inclusive schools, public accommodations and a conversion therapy ban.

Conversion therapy, the practice of trying to change an individual’s sexual orientation, is still legal in Virginia, though there have been attempts to limit the practice. Three Virginia boards that advise mental health professions — the Board of Psychology, Board of Counseling and Board of Social Work — all voted to prohibit the practice on minors. These boards do not need legislative approval to create regulation and take disciplinary action against offending practices. 

According to GLAAD, 16% of Americans say they know someone who is transgender. Equality Virginia Program Coordinator Thalia Hernandez said she hopes the panel gave attendees who might not know a transgender person a greater understanding of the issues that face the community.

“We’re making that larger social change as well in these everyday interactions, and so the small things can really build a world of difference,” Hernandez said.

Equality Virginia will host more “Ask a Trans Person” panels on Nov. 21 and Dec. 17 at Hampton Public Library in Hampton, on Dec. 10 at the East Suffolk Recreation Center in Suffolk and on Dec. 12 at First Congregational Christian Church in Chesterfield.

Written by Susan Shibut, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Panelists Keri Abrams, Andrew, and Zakia McKensey answered some pre-prepared questions, some anonymous questions, and some questions asked by the audience; by Susan Shibut.

‘Ex-Gay’ Group Goes To DC To Lobby Against Equality Act

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The group of “ex-gay”/”formerly transgender” people, members of CHANGED and Church United, claim LGBTQ people aren’t discriminated against, and that conversion therapy isn’t being practiced anywhere in the US.

A small group of so-called “ex-gay” and “formerly transgender” people are spending time in Washington, D.C. this week to lobby against two bills that, given the current president, have zero chance of becoming law any time soon. What they actually are doing is engaging in a disinformation campaign that flies in the face of facts.

15 members of CHANGED and of Church United, who call themselves “formers,” are lobbying against the Equality Act and the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, as NBC News reports. The Equality Act would expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ensure it provides protections for LGBTQ people in areas such as housing, credit and banking, employment, public accommodations, and more. The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act would ban harmful and dangerous conversion therapy, a pseudo-science that purports to change its subjects into cisgender heterosexuals.

Among their provably false positions: LGBTQ people don’t face discrimination.

“Despite federal hate crimes data and academic research to the contrary, the ‘formers’ question the existence of anti-LGBTQ discrimination,” according to NBC News.

“I live in Portland [Oregon] and I don’t see the discrimination that LGBTQ people talk about,” Kathy Grace Duncan, a member of Changed who formerly identified as a transgender man, told NBC News. “They’re asking for certain rights in this legislation, but these are rights that they already have.”

Jim Domen, founder of Church United, identifies as formerly gay. He said, “Sexual behavior should not be a protected right.”

Domen goes on to claim, falsely, that were the Equality Act to become law, a “super class” of LGBTQ people would be created “at the expense of people who are not.”

“The Equality Act treats sexual preference as an elevated class and would strip people of religious freedom,” Domen says.

Domen and Duncan have a different take on banning conversion therapy. While they appear to oppose it, they also say it isn’t being practiced.

Why?

They say they’ve “never met” anyone who has been subjected to it.

“I do think conversion therapy should be banned,” Duncan said, “but first we need to prove that it’s actually happening.”

Despite their claims, conversion therapy is being practiced. It is dangerous, has been linked to suicide, and major medical associations have denounced it. Anti-LGBTQ discrimination exists – one need merely look at the recent U.S. Supreme Court case argued earlier this month to see it.

Substituting personal experience or belief for facts helps no one.

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image via NCRM

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

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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)

The Miseducation Of Richie Tozier

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The journey of a central character in It Chapter Two makes it one of the most uniquely empowering LGBTQ films of the year.

One of Stephen King’s most famous stories saw its newest film debut recently. Not only is It: Chapter Two (along with its predecessor, It) undeniably the best film adaptation of any of King’s works (sorry, fans of The Shining); part of what makes this retelling so particularly strong is the fact that director Andy Muschietti doesn’t just lean in to the human emotion — he dives headfirst.

Upfront trigger warning — Muschietti sets the tone at the start of the film with the first murder. 27 years later, Derry, Maine is the same small-minded town it always was. In this opening scene, a young gay couple is brutally beaten just outside the town fair, and one half of the couple is thrown over the bridge to hide the evidence. Naturally the town greeter, good ol’ Pennywise, is there to welcome him to your favorite New England getaway.

We don’t have enough time for me to go into exactly how much I genuinely loved this film. It currently has a 79 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the criticism it’s receiving is fair — although I disagree, especially about the time length. The overall aesthetic and narrative structure is a beautiful work of art. Director Andy Muschietti, who also directed Mama, is without question a newer director to keep an eye on.

But let’s cut to the chase. While the new adaptations have deviated in their own ways from both the book and the original 1990 miniseries starring national treasure Tim Curry and the late John Ritter, some changes have been for the best. The best change was the decision to put more emphasis on the character of Richie Tozier.

Richie is played by Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard in Chapter 1 and Barry’s Bill Hader in It Chapter Two, and his journey is so damn important. Richie is hard to miss in any adaptation, with his natural snark and deflective humor, something that is all too familiar to anyone in the LGBTQ community. Who hasn’t swatted away any inkling that they might be anything other than the cookie cutter cisgender straight American their peers thought they knew with a dark joke or a variation on “I know you are but what am I”?

Richie Tozier sure has; in fact, that is his entire foundation as a character.

The mythology behind Pennywise is inherently fascinating, but one of the biggest keys to his power is the fact that he knows damn well what scares you more than anything in the world, and how to destroy you with it. For Bill Denbrough, it is the guilt over his younger brother, Georgie, being eaten by Pennywise himself (which of course kickstarts the entire story); for Beverly Marsh it’s her abusive father and homelife. For Richie it is something that every LGBTQ person, even as an adult in 2019 America, knows entirely too well.

Pennywise knows that nothing terrifies Richie more than the thought of anyone, anyone learning that he is a queer man.

When we see him as an adult, Richie is doing pretty damn well for himself. He is a famous stand-up comedian who is about to film a one-hour special, presumably for Netflix or Hulu, when he receives the call from Mike Hanlon to come back to Derry. He even mentions, during one of the handful of times that he tries to escape, that he’s “got dates in Reno, man.”

He has a lot going for himself. And for his friends to know his inner truth, let alone the entire world, is a massive risk that could viably end his career. We like to think sometimes that we’re so woke as a society, that things are so different for the LGBTQ community… why is this an issue anymore? I mean, we can get married now, right? Life’s good.

Well… yes and no.

LGBTQ people can still be legally fired in over half of the country — including Virginia, unless you work for the government — and conversion therapy is still very much legal in thirty-three states (although Virginia has been working toward a ban of the process). While Hollywood is traditionally more liberal-leaning, it still has a massive issue with allowing LGBTQ people the right to portray their own stories. Ironically, this is demonstrated by the fact that the actors who portray Richie in both parts of this film series are straight (to my knowledge). But that is another long argument for another day. 

The elongated point remains – Richie has everything to lose. And Pennywise knows it. He taunts him in the park outside of the arcade, where we see in a flashback that Richie tried to flirt with another boy, only to take it back and hide it, then was still forced out as slurs were screamed at him. As he remembers this, Pennywise floats down with a bouquet of balloons taunting him: “I know your dirty little secret.”

Richie Tozier is the hero of this entire piece for us, and he was from the very start. We see in flashbacks and at the end that he carved in the infamous kissing bridge the letters, “R + E” to allude that our favorite hypochondriac, Eddie Kaspbrak, was his first love. Richie wants to leave the entire time that he’s there, but who can really blame him? When he keeps coming back, it’s for his friends, sure — but also for his love.

He ultimately became bigger than his fear and uses it to fight back against Pennywise. Who knew that that was what would ultimately win King’s best known Boss Battle?

Well, I guess you did if you read the book. It has been out for 33 years.

What destroys Pennywise is the reminder that he is nothing; that your fear does not rule you. Richie reminded Pennywise that he was just a stupid clown, and in that moment, also reminded himself that he couldn’t let his fear of being outed narrate his life.

I will – and have, sorry to anyone in my life – tell anyone within earshot how fantastic of a film It: Chapter Two is. I’ve already seen it twice in local theaters. While it is hardly marketed or structured as the LGBTQ empowerment film of the year, the fact that both Muschietti and Hader made an intentional point of leaning completely into Richie’s identity and journey is so important.

Much like other marginalized communities, the LGBTQ community is often told what we are and are not capable of. While I’m pretty sure that being able to take down a primordial entity who takes the form of a depression-era clown was not something we were rallying for, well… I don’t know about y’all, but I’m all about embracing the shit out of that. 

All Images via Warner Bros. Entertainment