Queensland bans Gay conversion therapy, first in Australia to do so

Queensland on Thursday banned the gay conversion therapy, becoming the first Australian state to do so. According to the new legislation, health care professionals can face up to 18 months of jail for any activity which would try to suppress the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person using practices like aversion therapy, hypnotherapy and psychoanalysis.

Addressing parliament on Thursday, Queensland Health Minister and Deputy Premier Steven Miles said conversion therapy was a “highly destructive and unethical” practice, adding “the risks are even greater” for LGBT young people.

“No treatment or practice can change a person’s sexual attraction or experience of gender,” he said, adding that this is “not an affliction or disease that requires medical treatment.”

LGBTQI groups across the world have been demanding to make the practice illegal for a long time. The practice considers LGBTQI identities an anomaly and offers to treat them using psychological, physical, or spiritual interventions. The practice is widely opposed on logical, ethical and moral grounds.

In July this year, Israel had passed the ‘Gay conversion’ therapy ban bill. Many countries including Malta, Brazil and Germany have fully outlawed the practice.

Following the suicide of Anjana Harish, who was forced to undergo conversion therapy, many queer rights groups in India including Sahayatrika and Queerala had demanded to ban the practice in the country.