{"id":200107,"date":"2019-07-29T10:30:06","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T14:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irpp-policy-options.local\/issues\/we-need-clear-laws-against-conversion-therapy\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T04:46:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T08:46:04","slug":"we-need-clear-laws-against-conversion-therapy","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/potestlaunch.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/07\/we-need-clear-laws-against-conversion-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"We need clear laws against conversion therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years, conversion therapy has become a topic of legislative attention. In 2015, Ontario prohibited these practices<\/a>, which aim to change youth\u2019s gender identity or sexual orientation. Nova Scotia followed suit<\/a> in 2018. Today, many other provinces are considering prohibiting conversion therapies. Even the federal government, after initially rejecting<\/a> a petition to ban these worrisome practices, is now considering<\/a> legislative action.<\/p>\n

The contemporary political interest in conversion therapy is most welcome. Although we do not know how many people have undergone or will undergo conversion therapy, we know that the number is significant. In the United States, UCLA\u2019s Williams Institute estimated<\/a> in 2018 that 698,000 LGBT adults have undergone conversion therapy, and that 77,000 LGBT teenagers will receive it before adulthood. If rates are remotely comparable in Canada, we are looking at practices that impact thousands upon thousands of people.<\/p>\n

Though prohibiting conversion therapy is certainly good, not all bans are created equal. Most bans, including Ontario and Nova Scotia\u2019s, are relatively succinct. The core provisions consist of only a few sentences. For instance, the Ontario law<\/a> bans \u201cany treatment that seeks to change the sexual orientation or gender identity\u201d of a minor. Then it clarifies that the prohibition doesn\u2019t cover \u201csex-reassignment surgery or any services related to sex-reassignment surgery\u201d or \u201cservices that provide acceptance, support or understanding of a person or the facilitation of a person\u2019s coping, social support or identity exploration or development.\u201d<\/p>\n

While conciseness is often a virtue, these short laws are difficult to interpret accurately without extensive knowledge of statutory interpretation and mental health care for LGBTQIA2S+ populations. Is it \u201cchanging\u201d gender identity or sexual orientation if a person is questioning and we push them toward being cisgender and\/or heterosexual? What if we try to steer children away from growing up queer or trans by discouraging gender nonconformity, trying to make youth assigned male at birth less feminine and those assigned female at birth less masculine? Historically, one of the main approaches<\/a> in conversion therapy was to \u201ccure\u201d people its practitioners called \u201csissy boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

My research confirms that Ontario\u2019s and Nova Scotia\u2019s laws do, in fact, prohibit practices seeking to prevent youth from growing up trans or queer. Yet this isn\u2019t immediately clear from the texts. This ambiguity helps conversion therapy practitioners convince themselves that they\u2019re not actually violating any ethical norm. In more scientific terms<\/a>, \u201ccategorization malleability\u201d enables the maintenance of a positive self-concept.<\/p>\n

The primary goal of bans should be deterring behaviour rather than providing for sanctions once the harm has already been done. Enforcement after the fact cannot undo harm.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We\u2019ve seen this ambiguity play out in the context of conversion therapy bans. In 2015, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto closed its Gender Identity Clinic for Children and Youth amid allegations<\/a> that it engaged in conversion therapy. In response to these accusations, the head of the clinic stated that he did not believe<\/a> Bill 77 prohibited its approach. Regardless of whether this clinic\u2019s approach was indeed prohibited \u2014 and I believe it is, based on my extensive work on the issue \u2014 this divergence of interpretations highlights the limitations of existing laws. For all the good that Ontario\u2019s and Nova Scotia\u2019s laws have done and will do, there is room for improvement.<\/p>\n

The primary goal of bans should be deterring behaviour rather than providing for sanctions once the harm has already been done. Enforcement after the fact cannot undo harm.<\/p>\n

If we wish to stop the use of conversion therapies, practitioners need to know whether their practices are permitted or prohibited. Laypersons and nonspecialists also need clarity so they can hold contravening practitioners to account. We need parents to know whether their children are being subjected to unethical and illegal practices, as practitioners often exploit parents\u2019 vulnerability and ignorance to get their consent.<\/p>\n

I have recently drafted a model law<\/a> to meet these objectives. It draws on my experience working on conversion therapy bans and on therapeutic ethics in care for trans youth. The model is detailed; the operative provisions are nearly four times the length of Ontario\u2019s and Nova Scotia\u2019s laws. In addition to defining terms such as \u201cgender identity\u201d and \u201csexual orientation\u201d \u2014 common points of friction for conversion therapy bans \u2014 it extensively lists both prohibited and permitted practices. For the benefit of policy-makers and subsequent interpreters, the model law is also supplemented by 30 pages of explanatory notes, clarifying the raison d\u2019\u00eatre of each section and placing them all in their scientific context.<\/p>\n

Our laws must be as plain and thorough as possible, and nowhere is this truer than for issues like conversion therapy that strike at the very core of who we are. No one should be taught not to be themselves. No one should be taught that<\/a> \u201csomething about me at my core was bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether governments opt to use my model law or draft their bills anew, it is essential for the laws they promulgate to be infused with a pedagogical and deterrent spirit. I hope the federal and provincial governments will heed my call and not only ban conversion therapy but ban it as clearly and meticulously as possible.<\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0BC Green Leader Andrew Weaver, flanked by his two caucus members Adam Olsen and Sonia Furstenau, and members of LGBTQ community, attend a news conference at the legislature in Victoria, Monday, May 27, 2019, to announce the Greens\u2019 intention to introduce legislation that bans conversion therapy. The Canadian Press, by Dirk Meissner.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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In recent years, conversion therapy has become a topic of legislative attention. In 2015, Ontario prohibited these practices, which aim to change youth\u2019s gender identity or sexual orientation. Nova Scotia followed suit in 2018. Today, many other provinces are considering prohibiting conversion therapies. Even the federal government, after initially rejecting a petition to ban these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":82736,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[9359,9372,9377],"tags":[8578,8446],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4220,4277,4208,4246,4287,4422],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7011,7133],"class_list":["post-200107","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loi-droits","category-recent-stories-fr","category-sante","tag-lgbtq2-fr","tag-mental-health-fr","irpp-category-discrimination","irpp-category-discrimination-fr","irpp-category-health","irpp-category-law-and-justice","irpp-category-mental-health","irpp-category-sante-mentale","irpp-tag-lgbtq2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWe need clear laws against conversion therapy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Federal and provincial governments must not only ban conversion therapy, which aims to change 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