Making Virginia a Vanguard State in the Battle Against SOCE
Witnesses wait to testify before House Subcommittee
On behalf of the Board of Directors and our membership, I want to thank everyone who worked to bring HB1135 to the Virginia General Assembly this year. While we understood the odds that were against us from the start, I don’t think we had any idea what a profound and awe inspiring experience moving this bill ended up being. Conversion Therapy is being dragged out into the light where it won’t long survive and today we helped put Virginia on the map as a vanguard state in the fight to end this dehumanizing and worthless practice.
I can’t say enough about our great witnesses today and at our press conference last week. THANK YOU so much Apryl Prentess, Bill Johnson and Gail Dickert, your courage and eloquence moved everyone you came in contact with. Thank you to our friends at Equality Virginia, Virginia Interfaith Center, The Gay Community Center of Richmond, People of Faith for Equality in Virginia, GayRVA, Roland Winston, the Reverends Jeanne Pupke, Robert Coats and Robin Gorsline, our wonderful sponsor Delegate Patrick Hope of Arlington and his staff and all the young LGBTQAI men and women out there who need to know that they are not alone and that help is on the way! I also want to single out our APV Public Policy Director, Victoria Bragunier who put in countless hours to get this bill ready for prime time. THANK YOU!
It is rare that a good bill’s defeat can leave me so positive, but we made a little history today and back in 2011 when Ann and Jeanne and Claire and Steph and I put APV together, that is what we planned on doing! Congratulations.
Scott Price
President, Alliance for Progressive Values
January 30th, 2014
January 20th Press Conference on Bill to End Conversion Therapy
APV Policy Director Victoria Bragunier speaks to the press. From L to R, Rev. Doctor Robin Gorsline, APV President Scott Price, Apryl Prentess, Del. Patrick Hope.
Today the Alliance for Progressive Values rolled out the major portion of its 2014 legislative agenda with a press conference on HB1135, introduced at our request by Progressive Caucus co-Chair, Delegate Patrick Hope of Arlington. HB1135 would end the practice of so called conversion therapy on children under the age of 18. “Conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy” or “Sexual Orientation Change Efforts” (SOCE), claim to be able to change people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender into heterosexuals. This treatment has been rejected throughout the medical, psychiatric and therapeutic communities for decades and has been shown to do deep and lasting damage particularly to young people. Special thanks to Apryl Prentess for her courage and eloquence today speaking about her experience with SOCE. We expect the bill to be heard in House Health, Welfare and Institutions, Sub Committee 3 next week. If you have been a victim of SOCE and particular if this occurred while you were a minor, please consider adding your voice to the growing chorus calling for an end to SOCE. Please contact Victoria Bragunier, vbragunier@apvonline.org.
News on Today’s Press Conference.
From The Washington Post
APV Press Conference Announcement.
Delegate Patrick Hope of Arlington and the Alliance for Progressive Values will hold a press conference at the General Assembly building in Richmond in the press room at 9am on Monday January 20th to discuss HB1135 which ends the practice of so called conversion therapy on children under the age of 18. For more information contact APV Policy Director Victoria Bragunier at vbragunier@apvonline.org
HB1135 Get’s Coverage in the Local Richmond News.
APV expects action on this bill in the House of Delegates in near future, probably in the next week or two. We’ll have more info as it becomes available.
ALERT: We Need Your Help With Important Legislation!
Are you a survivor of conversion therapy, also known as sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE)–sometimes called “reparative therapy” or “ex-gay therapy”–at the hands of a medical or mental health provider? The Alliance for Progressive Values in partnership with Equality Virginia is working in the upcoming Virginia State legislature to put an end to the use of these therapy tactics that have no sound scientific basis and that cause lifelong damage to LGBT people subjected to them. Our bill HB1135 (Del. Hope), to ban the use of conversion therapy on youth in Virginia will go before the 2014 General Assembly. Our bill faces steep opposition in the legislature and we need survivors to share their stories to help advance this important legislation. We are asking our members and the community at large to help us find witnesses that can testify on behalf of the bill. Specifically if you or someone you know was forced into conversion therapy as a minor please contact Victoria Bragunier at 804-517-5206 or vbragunier@apvonline.org
