Image courtesy of news24.com
In a nearly-unanimous vote on Tuesday, New Zealand’s parliament passed a law banning LGBTQ+ conversion therapy, a pseudoscientific practice intended to alter one’s “gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation;” coercing one to identify as cis-gender and heterosexual is the ultimate “goal” of this so-called form of therapy. It has been widely condemned as wholly unethical and not only physically, but mentally harmful.
The Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill was first introduced to parliament in July 2021, and it was read for the first time the following month, in August. The Australian government stated that it had received “nearly 107,000 public submissions on the bill, the highest number of public submissions ever received on any legislation” (Menon). Essentially, each member of the public reserves the right to send a piece of writing to the committee in order to have their thoughts heard and represented; the sheer passion shown for this piece of legislation, in particular, is nothing short of spectacular.
The bill passed with one-hundred twelve (112) votes in favor and eight (8) in opposition.
This is a huge win for the members and allies of New Zealand’s LGBTQ+ community. Here are some of the major elements of the bill:
“Offence to perform conversion practice on person under age of 18 years or lacking decision-making capacity”
A person commits an offence if the person performs a conversion practice on an individual and knows that, or is reckless as to whether, the individual—
is under the age of 18 years; or
lacks, wholly or partly, the capacity to understand the nature, and to foresee the consequences, of decisions in respect of matters relating to their health or welfare.” (Section 8).
“Offence to perform conversion practice that causes serious harm”
A person commits an offence if the person performs a conversion practice on an individual that causes serious harm to the individual and the person—
knew that performing the conversion practice would cause serious harm to the individual; or
was reckless as to whether the performance of the conversion practice would cause serious harm to the individual.” (Section 9).
“It is unlawful for any person to—
perform a conversion practice on any other person; or
arrange for a conversion practice to be performed on any other person.” (Section 63A).
The link to the full bill can be found here.
While it is great that we are celebrating this (since it really is a huge victory for the LGBTQ+ community), we cannot abandon the fact that the country has allowed conversion therapy to persist for countless decades — and lest we forget the plethora of nations still allow this nonsensical practice to continue. Just two months ago, conversion therapy was made illegal in Canada, with France following suit not long after.
Canada, New Zealand, France — all countries that are widely considered to be quite progressive — are just making the call that coercing someone into changing their gender identity/expression and/or sexual orientation — and labeling it as a form of therapy, no less — maybe should not be allowed. Perhaps they are onto something.
Why is it that it has taken so long for us to act on this issue? What has been holding us back?
I wish I had a single answer. In the graphic below, we can take a look at the so-called “reasons” for legalizing conversion therapy in some regions of the world (Africa, Asia, and Latin America & the Caribbean, to be more specific). Religion stands as the major foundation for supporting this practice in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean — with the protection of family honor taking the lead in Asia.
Image courtesy of outrightinternational.org
Will other countries follow the lead of Canada, France, and New Zealand? Or will we continue to excuse the erasure of the LGBTQ+ identity in the name of religion, culture, and family honor? It seems as though only time will tell.
References
“Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill 56-2 (2021), Government Bill Contents – New Zealand Legislation.” Www.legislation.govt.nz, www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2021/0056/latest/LMS487197.html.
“LGBT Rights: New French Law to Criminalise ‘Conversion Therapy.’” BBC News, 26 Jan. 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60145970.
Maria Sjödin. “Criminalization and Conversion. Prevalence and Practices of So-Called Conversion Therapy in Africa.” OutRight Action International, 14 Oct. 2019, outrightinternational.org/content/criminalization-and-conversion-prevalence-and-practices-so-called-conversion-therapy-africa.
Menon, Praveen. “New Zealand Passes Law Banning Conversion Therapy.” Reuters, 15 Feb. 2022, www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-passes-law-banning-conversion-therapy-2022-02-15/.
“New Zealand Bans LGBT+ Conversion Therapy.” ITV News, 15 Feb. 2022, www.itv.com/news/2022-02-15/new-zealand-bans-lgbt-conversion-therapy.
Treisman, Rachel. “After Two Failed Attempts, Canada Bans Conversion Therapy.” NPR, 9 Dec. 2021, www.npr.org/2021/12/09/1062720266/canada-bans-conversion-therapy.
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