02-07-2025
Virginia partly reverses conversion therapy ban for minors
A Henrico court judge overturned part of Virginia's 2020 ban on conversion therapy for kids last month.
Why it matters: The decision permanently allows the use of talk-based counseling to attempt to change a child's gender identity or sexual orientation.
The practice has long been discredited by medical associations and LGBTQ+ advocates, who say it's harmful and has no scientific basis.
The big picture: The conservative group that sued over the ban announced the decision on Tuesday — the five-year anniversary of Virginia becoming the first state in the South to bar medical providers from practicing conversion therapy on minors.
The Henrico County Circuit Court judge and Virginia Attorney General's office signed the decree on June 4.
Between the lines: Other forms of conversion therapy — like electric shock or inducing nausea — remain illegal in Virginia, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
But the Virginia Department of Health Professions will no longer enforce the part of the ban that prohibits talk therapy.
Catch up quick: Founding Freedoms Law Center, the Family Foundation's legal arm, sued Virginia last year over the constitutionality of the ban, alleging freedom of speech and religious freedom violations.
The center filed the lawsuit on behalf of two Christian counselors, and called the court's decision last month "a major victory for free speech" in a Tuesday statement.
