Action | Unprofessional conduct/practice of conversion therapy |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 8/7/2019 |
Please protect the ability of children and their parents to access counseling regarding issues of gender and sexuality if they so desire. There are some children and minors who truly want assistance in these matters from counselors, and they and their parents should be allowed to access such assistance. To ban this counseling for minors would be to infringe upon their right to seek professional help and is the equivalent of denying medicine. No minor should be made to struggle through such issues on their own; if they and their parents have decided that they want to seek counseling, they should be allowed to receive it. Some children and their parents seek this counseling out of a genuine desire to better live out their own faith, and as such, banning this counseling would additionally be an attack on freedom of religion. Please consider the best interests of all Virginia minors, their parents, and their families, including those who do want counseling and those who may desire it in the future. Thank you very much for your time.