TM CURBING DECEPTION A world survey on legal regulation of so-called “conversion therapies” 2020 ilga.org COPYRIGHT Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license. Disclaimer. You are free to: § Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. § Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material. • Suggested citation ILGA World: Lucas Ramon Mendos, Curbing Deception: A world survey on legal regulation of so-called “conversion therapies” (Geneva: ILGA World, 2020). Names of countries and territories in this publication ILGA World is an organisation with ECOSOC-accredited consultative status at the United Nations and our publications therefore have to follow UN-recommended language on the names of countries and territories. Nothing in an ILGA World publication should be taken as a position made by the organisation on the status of any country or territory. If you have any doubts or queries with regard to this aspect of this publication, please contact ILGA at [email protected]. Author Lucas Ramón Mendos Main Research Assistants Enrique López de la Peña Lucía Belén Araque TM CURBING DECEPTION A world survey on legal regulation of so-called “conversion therapies” 2020 ilga.org TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Co-Secretaries’ General Foreword 13 Author’s Preface and Acknowledgements 15 1. CHAPTER 1 - RELEVANT TERMS: MISNOMERS FOR A MYRIAD OF 17 HARMFUL PRACTICES 1. “Conversion therapy” 17 2. “Reparative therapy” 18 3. “Gay cure” 18 4. “Ex-gay therapy” 19 5. “Gender critical therapy” 19 6. Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) 19 7. Sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression change efforts (SOGIECE) 20 2. CHAPTER 2 - WHAT FORMS CAN SOGIECE TAKE? 21 1. Pathologisation of sexual and gender diversity 22 2. Early attempts: bicycle riding, lobotomy and castration 23 3. Hormone intake 23 4. Aversion therapy 24 4.1. Electroshock aversion therapy 25 4.2. Chemical aversion therapy 27 4.3. Other forms of aversive techniques 27 5. Masturbatory reconditioning 27 6. Hypnosis 28 7. Internment in clinics or camps 29 8. Psychotherapy and counselling 30 9. Abusive or otherwise questionable methods used within psychotherapy or counselling 36 9.1. Nudity 36 9.2. Touch therapy 36 9.3. Bioenergetics 37 10. Religious counselling 38 11. Exorcism and spiritual/miracle cures 43 12. Specific forms of Gender Identity Change Efforts (GICE) 45 13. Gender Expression Change Efforts 47 CURBING DECEPTION - 2020 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3. CHAPTER 3 - THE GLOBAL CONSENSUS AGAINST SOGIECE 49 1. Survivor groups and civil society organisations 49 2. Professional associations 49 3. Religious institutions and organisations against SOGIECE 50 4. Repudiation of SOGIECE by so-called “ex-gay” leaders 51 4. CHAPTER 4 - OVERVIEW OF SOGIECE PROPONENTS TODAY 53 1. Religious leaders, organisations and institutions 53 2. Health care practitioners 54 3. State-Sponsored Conversion Therapies 55 4. Court mandated “treatment” 57 5. Political leaders 58 5. CHAPTER 5 - RIGHTS AT STAKE 59 1. Freedom from torture 59 2. Rights to health and psychological integrity 60 3. Right to life 61 4. Parental rights 62 5. Freedom of speech/expression 63 6. Freedom of conscience and religion 64 7. Patient autonomy 65 7.1. SOGIECE provided by professionals 66 7.2. SOGIECE provided by non-professionals 66 7.3. Legal approaches to regulating consent to SOGIECE provided by non-professionals 67 7.3.1. The law should not allow for adult consent 7.3.2. The law should ‘keep an eye’ on adult consent 7.3.3. The law should not impair adult consent 6. CHAPTER 6 - STRATEGIES TO RESTRICT SOGIECE 71 1. Legal bans or restrictions on the provision of SOGIECE 71 1.1. Are legal restrictions necessary? 71 1.2. Criminal or non-criminal laws? 73 1.3. Who should be prevented from engaging in SOGIECE? 74 1.4. Who should be protected from SOGIECE? 75 1.5. How should SOGIECE be defined? 75 2. Legal regulation of health care professions 76 3. Anti-fraud or consumer rights legislation 76 4. Anti-discrimination law 77 6 ILGA World TABLE OF CONTENTS 5. Child protection law 77 6. Health insurance legislation and policies 77 7. Advertising and referrals 78 8. Public policy 78 8.1. Enforcement agencies 78 8.2. Access to justice 79 8.3. Survivor support 79 8.4. Official Statements against SOGIECE 8080 8.5. Withdrawing official support to SOGIECE 80 8.6. Awareness raising 81 8.7. Education 81 8.8. Dialogue with religious institutions 82 9. The role of NHRIs and other domestic human rights bodies 82 10. The role of the media 83 11. The role of Professional Associations 83 7. CHAPTER 7 - LAWS RESTRICTING SOGIECE 85 1. Nationwide legal restrictions in force 85 1.1. Brazil (1999) 85 1.1.1. Judicial challenges 86 1.1.2. Legislative attempts to repeal or limit the restriction 87 1.2. Ecuador (2012 / 2014) 87 1.2.1. Ministerial Agreement No. 767/12 87 1.2.2. Aggravating circumstances in the Penal Code 88 1.3. Malta (2016) 88 1.3.1. Restrictions for non-professionals 89 1.3.2. Restrictions for professionals 89 2. Sub-national restrictions (regions, states and provinces) 90 2.1. Canada 90 2.1.1. Ontario (2015) 90 2.1.2. Nova Scotia (2018) 90 2.1.3. Prince Edward Island (2019) 91 2.1.4. City of Vancouver (2018) 91 2.1.5. City of Edmonton (2019) 91 2.2. Spain 92 2.2.1. Community of Madrid (2016) 92 2.2.2. Community of Andalusia (2017) 93 2.2.3. Community of Valencia (2018) 94 2.2.4. Community of Aragon (2018) 94 2.2.5. Region of Murcia (2016) 95 2.3. United States of America 95 2.3.1. California (2012) 96 2.3.2. New Jersey (2013) 96 CURBING DECEPTION - 2020 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2.3.3. District of Columbia (2014 and 2019) 96 2.3.4. Oregon (2015) 97 2.3.5. Illinois (2015) 97 2.3.6. Vermont (2016) 98 2.3.7. Connecticut (2017) 98 2.3.8. Nevada (2017) 98 2.3.9. New Mexico (2017) 98 2.3.10. Rhode Island (2017) 99 2.3.11. Delaware (2018) 99 2.3.12. Hawaii (2018) 99 2.3.13. Maryland (2018) 99 2.3.14. Washington (2018) 100 2.3.15. New Hampshire (2019) 100 2.3.16. New York (2019) 101 2.3.17. Massachusetts (2019) 101 2.3.18. Colorado (2019) 101 2.3.19. Maine (2019) 101 2.3.20. Puerto Rico (2019) 102 2.3.21. Utah (2020) 102 3. Non-explicit / indirect bans 102 3.1. Oceania 102 3.2. Latin America 103 4. Caselaw 103 4.1. United States 103 4.1.1. Pickup et al. v. Brown et al. and Welch et al. v. Brown et al. 103 4.1.2. King et al. v. Christie et al. 104 4.1.3. Ferguson et al. v. JONAH et al. 106 4.2. China 106 4.2.1. Peng v. Xinyu Piaoxiang Psychotherapy Centre 106 4.2.2. Yu X vs. No. 2 Zhumadian Hospital 107 4.3. Costa Rica 107 4.3.1. Decision No. 2013-3090 107 5. Bills and initiatives under consideration 108 5.1. Australia 108 5.1.1. Queensland 108 5.1.2. Victoria 109 5.2. Canada 109 5.2.1. Federal level 109 5.2.2. British Columbia 109 5.3. Chile 109 5.4. France 110 5.5. Germany 110 5.6. Ireland 110 5.7. Mexico 110 5.7.1. Federal level 110 5.7.2. Mexico City 111 5.7.3. State of Jalisco 111 8 ILGA World TABLE OF CONTENTS 5.8. New Zealand 111 5.9. Poland 111 5.10. Spain (national level) 111 5.11. Taiwan (China) 111 5.12. United Kingdom 111 5.13. United States (federal level) 111 6. Official Statements by Governmental Bodies or Officials 112 6.1. Argentina 112 6.1.1. City of Buenos Aires (2011) 112 6.2. Australia 112 6.2.1. Federal level (2018) 112 6.2.2. Victoria (2018) 112 6.2.3. West Australia (2018) 112 6.3. Austria (2018) 112 6.4. Canada 112 6.4.1. Manitoba (2015) 112 6.5. Chile (2016) 112 6.6. Israel (2014) 113 6.7. Taiwan (China) (2018) 113 6.8. United Kingdom (2017) 113 6.9. Mexico 114 6.9.1. Federal level (2017, 2018) 114 6.9.2. Mexico City (2015) 114 6.10. Peru (2019) 114 6.11. United States of America (2015) 114 6.12. European Parliament (EU) (2018) 114 8. ANNEX 1: POSITION STATEMENTS: PROFESSIONAL 115 ASSOCIATIONS AGAINST SO(GIE)CE 1. International 1.1. World Psychiatric Association 1.2. International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses 1.3. Pan American Health Organization 1.4. World Medical Association 2. National/regional level 2.1. Australia 2.1.1. Australian College of Nurse Practitioners 2.1.2. Australian Medical Association 2.1.3. Australian Psychological Society 2.1.4. Queensland Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Association 2.1.5. Royal Australasian College of Physicians CURBING DECEPTION - 2020 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2.1.6. Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (regional) 2.2. Austria 2.2.1. Austrian Public Health Association 2.2.2. Austrian Society for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 2.3. Brazil 2.3.1. Federal Council of Psychology 2.4. Canada 2.4.1. Canadian Psychological Association 2.4.2. College of Psychologists of Quebec (regional) 2.4.3. College of Alberta Psychologists (regional) 2.5.