Six countries and a number of states in the United States have legally banned so-called “conversion therapy.” Why?
- Canadian legislators have called it a “harmful” practice, “widely discredited,” and Prime Minister Trudeau was reported to have called it “despicable and degrading.”
- In England the NHS has described it as “unethical and potentially harmful. It has been condemned by mental wellbeing charity Mind as something which has ‘a terrible impact on a person’s mental health’.”
- Germany calls it “discredited”and German Fedral Health Minister Jens Spah is reported to have said, “Young people are being forced into conversion therapies.”
- NBC, reporting on the Canadian ban, also mentions US bans in 20 states, the District of Colombia, and a number of cities, claimed that it is a “debunked” treatment. “
Malta, Brazil, Ecuador, and Taiwan have also banned the practice.
Who wouldn’t be in favor of banning a practice described in this way?
What is “conmversion therapy”?
Reporting on Canada’s passing of legislation banning conversion therapy, CTV Newsdescribed it in these words: “‘Conversion therapy,’ as it has been called, seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender. It can include seeking to repress someone’s non-heterosexual attraction, or repressing a person’s gender expression or non-cis gender identity.
“These practices can take various forms, including counselling and behavioural modification, and they have been opposed by numerous health and human rights groups. There continue to be calls for further mental health and educational supports for those who have survived conversion therapy.”
The prevalence of conversion therapy
The Nationa LGBT Survey of 2017 in the United Kingdom found that 5% of respondents said they had been offered conversion or reparative therapy . . . and a further 2% said they had undergone it (Government Equalities Office, 2018). Young people aged 16 and 17 years old also responded and reported that they had experienced or were offered conversion therapy, which suggests that conversion therapy is a ‘live’ and not just a historical issue.
What is the evidence?
On what are these claims of the effects of “conversion therapy” based. What is the evidence?
To be continued
