I am a Virginia resident and a queer transgender man.   My orientation is not a mental illness.  My love for my husband is healthy, kind, and emotionally fulfilling.  We have been together for over a decade.  My being transgender does not change the fact that I'm a helpful, friendly member of my community- I work on programs related to improving health care, and I'm a volunteer with several different local and national organizations.

Conversion therapy is based on dangerous, outdated "science" that classified LGBTQ orientation as a mental illness.  My orientation and my gender identity is not a mental illness, and it's not something that can be cured.  The fact is, conversion therapy simply doesn't work, and it does irreperable harm to children and their families.  In fact, the leaders of Exodus International, one of the foremost "ex-gay" ministries, have publicly renounced conversion therapy.  Conversion therapists are at best misguided and at worst, predatory.

I urge you to ban this midieval practice, and to bring the Commonwealth I love into the 21st century.