I encourage the Board to adopt, and even strengthen, the Guidance Document on the Practice of Conversion Therapy. This dangerous and discredited practice is based in the false assertion that being LGBTQ+ is a mental illness and as such must be "cured." All leading professional medical and mental health associations (including the AMA, GLMA, APA, and AAFP) reject "conversion therapy" as a legitimate medical treatment. Rather, these organizations note that this practice can and often does impose long-term and significant psychological distress on those who undergo it. No person, and in particular no young person, should ever be shamed by a medical or mental health professional into believing that who they are is "wrong." I would urge the Board to adopt or even strengthen the guidance document to affirm the Commonwealth's opposition to "reparative" or "conversion" therapy for sexual orientation or gender identity, and to affirm the Commonwealth's support for therapies that help patients struggling with sexual orientation or gender identity to develop healthy coping and self-acceptance skills.