Conversion therapy which is a treatment that involves the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual’s sexual orientation has been banned by the state of Virginia in the Southern part of the United States of America. The Democratic governor of Virginia Ralph Northam announced the ban during the week stating “This issue is personal for me, as a pediatric neurologist who has cared for thousands of children, conversion therapy is not only based in discriminatory junk-science, it is dangerous and causes lasting harm to our youth. No one should be made to feel wrong for who they are — especially not a child.”

The bill passed through Virginia’s Democrat-majority state legislature last month after being held up for a number of years when Republicans had control of either chamber. The legislation, HB 386, prohibits health care providers and state-licensed counselors from administering conversion therapy to anyone under 18. The ban is set to come into force on July 1.

The American Psychological Association has consistently warned against the detrimental effects of conversion therapy; a practice it describes as involving “counseling and psychotherapy aimed at eliminating or suppressing homosexuality.” The therapy is intrinsically damaging, the APA says, because it presents the view that the sexual orientation of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth “is a mental illness or disorder, https://medfitnetwork.org/public/valium-diazepam-oral/.”“They often frame the inability to change one’s sexual orientation as a personal and moral failure,” the group notes.

What do you think about the ban?