Canada criminalises LGBT+ conversion therapy

MPs approve ban on discredited and widely-criticised ‘treatment’

Canadian lawmakers voted to criminalise ‘practices and treatments’ that cause psychological harm to the LGBT+ community (Getty Images)

Canadian members of parliament have voted to criminalise LGBT+ conversion therapy.

The vote took place in the House of Commons on Tuesday and passed with 263 MPs voting in favour of the bill, and 63 voting against it.

The criminialisation of conversion therapy featured prominently within the Liberal party’s 2019 election platform, and the passage of the bill hands the minority ruling party a win.

Historically, conversion therapy has been used to “treat” people who don’t identify as heterosexual. The so-called therapies are aimed at altering a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and range from talk therapy and hypnosis to fasting and electric shocks.

The American Medical association denounced the practice as “harmful and ineffective”.

If approved in the Senate, Bill C-6 will amend Canada’s Criminal Code to prohibit practices, treatment or services designed to change an individual’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender, or to reduce non-heterosexual sexual attraction or behaviour.

It aims to “promote the human dignity and equality of all Canadians, including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2) people and the LGBTQ1 community”. It also denounces “practices and treatments that cause psychological harm to LGBTQ2 people”.

The bill will now go to the senate, and if approved, it will become a criminal offence to force a child or individual to undergo conversion therapy against their will, to take a child abroad to undergo conversion therapy, to receive financial or material benefit for the provision of conversion therapy, and to advertise conversion therapy services.

The bill passed in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening, ahead of the summer recess, set to begin on Wednesday.

In the UK, a ban on conversion therapy in England and Wales was announced in the Queen’s Speech in May, but it has yet to be officially legislated.