State Senate committee defeats bill to ban LGBT conversion therapy

This morning, the Senate Committee on Education and Health heard incendiary testimony suggesting that homosexuality might be a mental health issue before voting along party lines to defeat Senator Louise Lucas’ (D – Portsmouth) SB 988, a bill to bar health care providers from providing treatments that seek to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of minors.

Said Sen. Lucas (D – Portsmouth), “No one should be telling our children what they are and aren’t supposed to feel — who they are and aren’t supposed to be. This bill would have protected young people while leaving adults free to make their own choices. Republicans should be ashamed of their votes today.”

Several witnesses appeared to testify on behalf of the bill, including representatives from Equality Virginia and the Alliance for Progressive Values One witness against the bill — Linda Wall, a conservative activist — seemingly suggested that homosexuality might be a mental disorder, arguing that “the