Lawsuit challenges Va. law that bans conversion therapy
Two Northern Virginia counselors on Thursday filed a lawsuit against a state law that bans so-called conversion therapy. The Founding Freedoms Law Center, which is the Family Foundation of Virginia’s legal arm, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Dr.
John and Janet Raymond in Henrico County Circuit Court. The law took effect in 2020. A Family Foundation of Virginia press release notes the Raymonds “own and operate” the Associate Counseling Center in Front Royal, which “offers counseling for marriages, families, men, and women from a Christian worldview.” “Prior to this law taking effect, the Raymonds regularly counseled minors on a wide variety of issues, but because of the chilling effect of this law, the Raymonds stopped seeing minors as clients almost entirely,” reads the press release. “By this litigation, the Raymonds seek to continue counseling children, including the increasing number of those who are experiencing confusion about their sexual identity in a chaotic culture.” Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia, in a statement dismissed the lawsuit and criticized the Family Foundation. “The Family Foundation is a consistently anti-LGBTQ+ group that is constantly seeking new avenues to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people and roll back our hard-won rights, and this lawsuit is nothing more than their latest attempt,” said Rahaman. “Conversion therapy is harmful, has been thoroughly debunked as effective, has been disavowed by every major medical association in America,” added Rahaman.
The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and more than two dozen states ban the widely discredited practice. “Once again, anti-LGBTQ+ forces are just trying to find new ways to advance their failing cause,” said Rahaman. “To the LGBTQ+ youth in Virginia and around the country who have been subjected to this dangerous practice: We will not stop fighting for you.
