Please do not ban gender counseling for minors. Some minors genuinely want assistance from professional counselors and should be allowed, with their parents, to access such counseling. To deny families the right to seek this counseling goes against both freedom of speech and religion, and from a mental health perspective could lead to unnecessary distress among young people. A person who desires gender counseling has the same rights as one seeking help for depression. It is not to say this counseling needs to be forced upon all minors, but for those minors who genuinely want this counseling, to deny them the ability to access it would be to put them through unnecessary suffering. Please consider the best interests of all Virginia minors and their families. Thank you for your time.