As a pastor, I have counseled countless LGBT people, including a transgender woman. I was the first person to pray for her by name--the name of the person, the woman, she knows herself to be... the woman she is. I will never forget the look on her face when she heard her name invoked in a prayer to the God who knows and loves her. It was healing. Conversion therapy has been shown to be damaging to the spirit and the psyche; please hold the line on banning it. Our Commonwealth deserves better than this practice which is based in bias and poor science.