'Ex-Gay' Ban Bill Clears Virginia Senate
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | February 18, 2020
A bill that seeks to prohibit health care providers from engaging in therapies that attempt to alter the sexual orientation and gender identity of LGBT youth cleared the Virginia Senate on Monday.
Such therapies go by names such as “conversion therapy,” “reparative therapy,” “sexual orientation change efforts” or “ex-gay therapy.”
State Senator Scott Surovell, a Democrat from Fairfax County, sponsored the legislation, Senate Bill 245.
According to the Washington Blade, the bill cleared the Senate with bipartisan support.
A version of the bill cleared the Virginia House of Delegates on February 3.
Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, has signaled he would sign the bill into law.
Democrats, who in November regained control of the House and Senate for the first time since 1996, have introduced a flood of LGBT rights bills this legislative session.