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On behalf of the Richmond Business Alliance, the LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. I write in support of Guidance Document 125-9, which would protect youth under the age of 18 from so-called “conversion therapy” in Virginia psychological practice. Being LGBTQ+ is not a psychological disorder that needs to be “converted” or “changed.” This practice sends a message that there is something wrong with who LGBTQ+ youth are and that they need to be “fixed.

As a person of color when I think about this practice, I am reminded of the inhuman “medical treatments” that were inflicted upon people of color with no regard for their personhood or the physical or emotional damage that those treatments caused. We cannot continue to be a society that allows any type of pseudo-science practices to be inflicted upon those who should be loved, respected and honored with the right to live as they are created.

To paraphrase, “Our children come through us…they do not belong to us”

Please ban this disgraceful practice.