The European Union will not outlaw ‘conversion therapy’—practices that seek to modify or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity—but will push member states to take action against such practices, it said on Wednesday, May 13th.
Brussels argued the responsibility for such a ban lies with member states and that an EU ban would be an encroachment on national sovereignty.
A European Citizens’ Initiative requesting a ban on ‘conversion therapy’ has been criticized for not defining what practices it supported banning, leading to concerns that discussions within families or in religious counseling could fall foul of the proposed law, thereby violating freedom of speech and expression.
Conversion practices “have no place in our union,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, which flew the LGBTQ flag outside its headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Instead, the EU executive said it would issue an unbinding recommendation next year for member states to adopt national-level bans.
Currently, only eight member states have adopted specific bans: Malta, Germany, France, Greece, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, and Cyprus. In other countries, such as the Netherlands, the parliamentary debate remains open.
