WELLINGTON — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s center-left government vowed on Monday to ban conversion therapy, which aims to change a person’s sexual orientation, if returned to power, as widely expected, in polls on Oct. 17. The globally discredited treatment, which harms and stigmatizes members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans community has adherents in New Zealand, however. ADVERTISEMENTA recent survey showed more than one in six respondents reported being subjected to the efforts of psychiatrists, psychologists or counsellors to stop them being trans or non-binary, Labor Party leader Tāmati Coffey said. In the past, Ardern has spoken in support of banning conversion therapy. Several U.S. states, such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington have banned conversion therapy, which is sometimes performed by religious establishments and can include hypnosis and electric shocks, as a movement grows against it.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer October 05, 2020 04:30 UTC