I am writing to tell you what an incredibly dangerous idea Conversion Therapy is for the children of our society.  We are a society with our priorities all mixed up.  We hold parents accountable when our children misbehave but we try to take away the fundamental right of parents to make decision on the upbringing, education and care of their children.  We harm our children with this type of decision making.  We are teaching our children that their parents only have certain rights and that if they don’t like what their parents say, the government will step in. 

Parents are the best decision makers for their children and should be allowed to teach them their morals and values. This is not the job of licensed counselors.  Our constitution states freedom of religion, but if it’s something that the government doesn’t like, then they try to take that freedom away.  Under Virginia law (Sec 1-240.1 Code of Virginia), parents have the fundamental right to make decision regarding the upbringing, education, and care of their children.  We need to leave this in their very capable hands.

I strongly urge you to ban licensed counselors from providing conversion therapy to children!