Ending Conversion Therapy In Virginia starts NOW!
March, 2018
Addendum:
Once again our bills failed in party line votes in both chambers. While we came closer this year than we have in others, it will take more effort and work to move this issue through the General Assembly and on to the Governor’s desk. We don’t mind the effort. We’ll be back, working to protect our children from this dangerous and useless “treatment.” We owe it to our kids to fight for them. We want to thank the sponsors and our friends at Equality Virginia, The Trevor Project and Born Perfect for their help and support. Most of all we want to thank the brave survivors who came forward again this year to tell their stories.
This fight is far from over and we are looking at other options that may bypass the roadblocks set up in the legislature. Stay tuned.
January, 2018
As we have in the past, APV has introduced legislation in both houses of the 2018 Virginia General Assembly to end the practice of so called Conversion, or Sexual Orientation Change Therapy on minors in the commonwealth by clinicians lisensed in Virginia. Conversion Therapy seeks to “cure” LGBTQ people. It is medically useless, psychologically dangerous and emotionally crushing. It needs to stop, NOW!
Our Senate bill, SB245, sponsored by Senator Scott Surovell, (Arlington), is before the crucial Senate Education and Health committee tomorrow morning. If you live in Virginia, please contact your state Senator and ask that they support SB245! If you have a Senator who is on this committee list, please contact them and ask that they vote in favor of this important legislation.
Tell them no one with a medical/clinical license in Virginia should be using that authority to damage children with quack medicine. You can not cure what is not an illness!
Oh What a Night!
Congratulations Virginia! You just made history and sent a message that is being heard around the nation. For seven years APV has been at the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond working to protect the most vulnerable members of our society from a rapacious and downright cruel brand of modern conservatism. It hasn’t been easy and we’ve lost more fights than we’ve won but we never gave up.
On November 7, 2017 the tide turned. The historic electoral victories across the Commonwealth are cause for serious celebration and we here at APV are certainly enjoying the moment, but we aren’t planning on resting for long. There’s a lot of work to do in the coming months to get ready for what will be a very different General Assembly session in 2018. We need your help if we are going to capitalize on the gains made on election day.
Will you consider making a $25 donation today to the Alliance for a Progressive Virginia. We have an historic opportunity before us, you can help us make the most of it.
Thanks Mayor Stoney for a Great Event
Right to left: Scott Price, Rhonda Henning, Mayor Stoney and Kortenay Gardiner.
Very pleased to have Mayor Stoney join us at our October Salon at Helen’s. the Moyor got some tough but good spirited questioning during the evening but left with a smile on his face. We look forward to having him back next year!
Dear Ralph
Last week APV members got together to record this video-letter to Democratic Party Gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam, voicing our concerns about the proposed MVP and ACP pipelines and the expansion of fracking in the Commonwealth. We have a lot of respect for doctor Northam and we know he’ll take our concerns seriously, but he needs to act soon, the election is getting closer every day.
Today, the federal government is in the hands of men who either don’t understand or don’t care about the on going crisis of global climate change. Worse, they want to use our beautiful state as a proving ground for their reckless and dangerous ideas. We need a governor who will state forcefully and on the record his opposition to further fossil fuel expansion in Virginia. Our time, effort and money needs to be turned towards the clean and renewable energy choices of the future, not the past.
See the video here
On Charlottesville
The Alliance for a Progressive Virginia stands in solidarity with the brave men and women who went to Charlottesville Virginia to confront and condemn the neo-Nazis who planned to gather there yesterday. We are broken-hearted at the injury and loss of life that resulted from the cowardly and vicious attack on unarmed, peaceful protesters by one the fascists. Sadly, we are not entirely surprised. The so called “alt-right” is a vehicle for a kind of politics that has not existed in this country for many, many years. It is politics predicated on racism, chauvinism and violence and must be resisted at every turn.
As a progressive organization APV rejects violence as a means of political change, but we will not stand idle while an out of control right wing spreads hatred and fear across our commonwealth and our nation. We are in the process of assessing what we can and should do in reaction to recent events, not only those in Charlottesville yesterday, but across our country. We wish in particular to condemn and denounce president Trump whose rhetoric has stoked the fires of violence and bigotry during his campaign and after the election. His prevarication and cowardly relativism at this time, when our nation is in real need of steady, competent leadership is sadly, exactly what we have come to expect from him.
Our hearts are with the individuals and their families and friends who were injured or killed yesterday. We will be posting verified links to places where the public can donate to help them with expenses.
Make no mistake, our country and the democratic values that so many have given their lives to defend, not just on foreign soil, but here at home, in the streets, is under siege by forces that would change and pervert our sacred concepts of freedom and justice. They must not be allowed to succeed. Small as we are, APV and its members will find our place and make our stand.
Rhonda Hening
President, Alliance for a Progressive Virginia
August 13th, 2017
