Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Health Professions
 
Board
Board of Medicine
 
Guidance Document Change: Board of Medicine guidance on conversion therapy
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12/10/19  1:04 pm
Commenter: Elisabeth Bloomer

Conversion Therapy Could Kill My Child: Primum Non Nocere
 

As a mother of a bisexual child, I have researched ways to help my child live a healthy, content, successful life, and know that the practice of conversation therapy is based on the false claim that being bisexual (or lesbian, gay, transgender, or any name beyond cisgendered, heteronormative) is a mental illness that needs to be cured -- a view with no scientific basis -- and known to be extremely dangerous. Conversion therapy causes depression, decreased self-esteem, substance abuse, and suicide attempts. Good parenting, like good medicine, should follow the Hippocratic Oath, "primum non nocere" -- or, "first, do no harm." The practices involved in conversion therapy are harmful, and therefore, are immoral, illegal, inhumane, and therefore should be banned. Please protect my child, as a Virginia citizen, from such abhorrent practices. 

CommentID: 77685