I urge that Virginia ban conversion therapy.  As a senior citizen who is both transgender and lesbian, I can attest that neither my sexual orientation nor my gender identity is a "lifestyle choice," any more than my race or right-hand dominance.  I was born with all of these attributes.

I am fortunate that my parents had the wisdom not to put me through any sort of "conversion therapy" to "cure" me of being transgender or lesbian.  However, I have experienced a lifetime of torment from people who have harangued me out of "Christian love" to change my ways.  I cannot imagine how difficult it would be if I had to see any of these people in a therapeutic setting.  It would only be worse if I were a child and lacked the self-esteem to know that I am a good and valuable person just the way I am.  I cannot imagine the terror of well-intentioned adults persuading me I am doomed to burn in hell because of something I am powerless to change.

Having grown up in the Bible belt, I have known other LGBT people who have agonized over religious issues and have tried in vain to "pray the gay away," either on their own or with "professional" help.  They were not successful doing so.  They only tormented themselves and became hollow shells.  One of them even attempted suicide.  In my lifetime of having known hundreds or thousands of LGBT people, I've never known anyone to be "cured."  Our sexual orientation and gender identity are immutable.  The ONLY well-adjusted LGBT people I know are the ones who have accepted themselves for who they are, despite protestations from evangelical Christians.