OTTAWA - The Canadian government on Monday announced a bill to ban so-called "conversion therapy," which tries to change the sexual orientation of young LGBT people.
The bill would create five new offenses in the Canadian criminal code, including prohibiting subjecting a minor to the practice, either in Canada or abroad.
An adult would also not be able to undergo conversion therapy against his or her will, and no one would be allowed to profit from or advertise it.
If the bill passes, Canada's laws on conversion therapy would become some of the "most progressive and comprehensive in the world," David Lametti, the minister of justice, told reporters while presenting the bill to parliament.
Two adults who had been forced to undergo conversion therapy in childhood testified on about their experiences.
"I'm a survivor of conversion therapy," said Erika, a trans woman.
"My body is a prison because of what my conversion therapist did to me, and I live with that every day," she said in a vehement denunciation of the practice.
The bill's adoption by parliament appears all but assured, even though Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is the minority in the House of Commons. The left-wing New Democratic Party has already announced it intends to back the bill.
The bill states that conversion therapy causes harm not only to the victims but also to society, particularly because the practice is founded on and helps spread myths and stereotypes about sexual orientation and gender identity, including the myth that sexual orientation and gender identity can and should be changed.
The law would define conversion therapy as "any service, practice or treatment designed to change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual, gender identity to one that matches the sex assigned at birth, or to repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviors."
According to a recent official survey, 47,000 Canadian men who identify as part of a minority sexuality group had been subjected to conversion therapy.
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Utah is now the 19th U.S. state to ban conversion therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity in lesbian, gay, transsexual, bisexual and queer children.
The ban in the Republican-dominated state, which took effect on Wednesday, exempts members of the clergy, lay pastors, and spiritual counselors not licensed by the state from the ban.
Despite those limits, "this is still a big victory in a very conservative state," said Mathew Shurka, 31, of Long Island, New York.
He describes himself as a "survivor" of such therapy and is co-founder of Born Perfect, a nonprofit group pushing for conversion therapy bans across the United States.
Conversion therapy involves a variety of psychological and spiritual practices aimed at changing sexual orientation and gender identity in the belief that homosexuality and transgender identity are mental illnesses.
The American Psychological Association has called the treatment harmful to young people. The American Medical Association has said that conversion therapy does not work and can trigger depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide attempts.
Virginia's state senate approved a ban on Tuesday, and the bill is now being sent to the Democratic-controlled House of Delegates, where it is expected to pass, said Shannon Minter, a San Francisco gay activist working with Born Perfect.
In Utah, the ban takes the form of a regulation. Craig Hall, a Republican state representative, championed legislation that would have banned the therapy, but it failed to pass last year.
He credited support from the influential Mormon Church, to which 62 percent of Utah's 3.1 million residents belong, for the governor's decision to enact the new regulation. The church, opposes same-sex marriage and its doctrine teaches that same-sex relationships are sinful.
Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church's formal name, had previously opposed the legislation because it did not explicitly exempt clergy.
"We worked very closely with them on the (new) language," Hall said.
"The administrative rule has the same effect as law, and it governs all licensed therapists and doctors," he said.
A church representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hall noted that the state does not license pastors and ministers.
Utah Governor Gary Herbert, a Republican, had no comment on the issue on Wednesday, said spokeswoman Brook Scheffler.
In a press release in November, Herbert said the rule change was needed "to end the harmful practice of conversion therapy on minors."
“The stories of youth who have endured these so-called therapies are heart rending, and I’m grateful that we have found a way forward that will ban conversion therapy forever in our state,” he said.
Troy Williams, executive director of the activist group Equality Utah, said that while the rule does not affect unlicensed counselors, he hopes it sends a message.
"There are a lot of therapists and life coaches still out there who run these camps, and they're dangerous," Williams said. "But hopefully with Utah taking a strong stand, this will get the word out." (Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LONDON - A ban on conversion therapy by Israeli doctors will help protect gay people from treatments that claim to make them straight, but more work needs to be done with religious groups that support controversial 'cures', activists said on Wednesday.
Members who perform conversion therapy could now be expelled from the Israel Medical Association (IMA), which represents 90 percent of the country's doctors, if a complaint is filed to its ethics committee, said IMA spokeswoman Ziva Miral.
"The treatments to change one's sexual orientation have been found to be ineffective and could cause mental damage, such as anxiety, depression and suicidal tendencies," the IMA said in a position paper on the practice.
Conversion therapy, which can include hypnosis and electric shocks, is based on the belief that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is a mental illness that can be cured.
It is used in many countries, except Malta, Ecuador and just over a dozen U.S. states that have outlawed it, according to the ILGA, a network of LGBT+ rights groups. Several states are considering bans, including Britain, New Zealand and Australia.
Ruth Gophen, one of the authors of IMA's paper, published on Monday, said it was impossible to estimate how many Israelis have undergone conversion therapy because it is usually done secretly as most doctors view it as unethical.
Israel is one of a handful of Middle Eastern countries - along with Jordan and Bahrain - that allow same-sex relations, in a region where several states impose a death penalty.
But many religious communities in Israel, where three-quarters of its 9 million-strong population are Jewish, are deeply conservative.
Chen Arieli, chairwoman of the Israeli LGBT Association, described the IMA's ban on conversion therapy as a "breakthrough" but said outlawing the practice could make it harder to eradicate in communities where it is prevalent.
"We need to have a holistic approach regarding conversion treatment," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"Our goal is to strengthen the religious LGBT organisations, to help them outreach (to) those youth that may be at risk of having conversion treatment."
Julien Bahloul, spokesman for the Association of Israeli Gay Fathers, which campaigns for gay couples to become parents, said he hoped parliament would now pass a law making conversion therapy illegal.
"The fact that professional people, doctors, say today that this kind of therapy ... is not acceptable and not in any way related to medicine is a huge victory for us," he said.
However, Bahloul cautioned that it would depend on the results of elections scheduled for April 9.
It is often not possible to form a government in Israel without going into coalition with smaller parties, many of which are religious.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
