Many critical comments here purport to challenge a so-called "infringement" of parents' rights.  That would indeed be worrisome, but it is false:  this proposed ban does not infringe on parents' rights.  There are thousands of peer-reviewed psychological studies (simply google "google scholar," then enter "conversion therapy") showing beyond a reasonable doubt that this obsolete and misguided practice is dangerous and can lead to depression, decreased self-esteem, substance abuse, and in many well-documented cases suicide attempts.  The state cannot "infringe" on a right that clearly doesn't exist:  no one has a "right," no matter how well intentioned, to engage in a practice that has been demonstrated thousands of times over to create an oppressive context that is an obstacle to the growth of children and young adults.  Parents do not have a right to block their kids' right-of-way to develop to the fullest of their potentials.  Moreover, I personally know no parent who would wish to do so, regardless of party affiliation or political identity.  I can only assume, then, that comments criticizing this ban as a so-called "violation of parents' rights" reveal an ill-considered position based on a fundamental failure to study and understand the situation at hand.  Parents have a right to love their children in more-or-less their own way within limits.  But this is a proposed ban on a practice that lies outside those limits; in this way, the practice is analogous to abuse.  Again, there is no right to oppress, and the road to their children's hell is paved with the good intentions of parents who support conversion therapy.  This proposed ban is good ethically, and it's good policy for the COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.  Of course the ban is not enough; it must be coupled with education.