Virginia Becomes First Southern State to Ban Conversion Therapy for Children
Virginia has become the first state in the south to ban conversion therapy for minors.
On Tuesday, Virginia's Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam signed new legislation banning the treatment, which involves the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation, often using spiritual interventions.
“This issue is personal for me, as a pediatric neurologist who has cared for thousands of children,” Northam said in a statement, according to the New York Post. “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.”...