LGBTQ ‘conversion therapy’ officially banned in France

France has officially banned so-called LGBTQ “conversion therapy,” the widely debunked — and potentially dangerous — practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

“The law prohibiting conversion therapy is adopted unanimously,” President Emmanuel Macron tweeted Tuesday.

“Let’s be proud, these unworthy practices have no place in the republic. Because being yourself is not a crime, because there is nothing to be cured,” he added.

Pride March parade in Paris on June 26, 2021. (THOMAS COEX/)

The bill, which had been approved by both houses of the French Parliament late last year, was officially adopted on Tuesday after a final unanimous vote by lawmakers, the Agence France-Press reported.

The legislation outlaws “practices, behaviors or words aiming to modify or repress [a person’s] sexual orientation or identity, having an effect that alters their physical or mental health” and it carries a new offense in the penal code of up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 30,000 euros (around $33,900).

“It’s done,” France’s equality minister, Elisabeth Moreno, tweeted.

“Conversion therapies, these barbaric practices from a different time, are definitely prohibited in our country,” she continued, adding the hashtag #RienAGuerrir (Nothing to cure).

“A great victory for rights and equality,” tweeted France’s European affairs minister, Clement Beaune, who is gay.

Earlier this year, Canada became the sixth country in the world to outlaw the practice, after Brazil, Ecuador, Malta, Albania and Germany.

France has now officially joined that list.

The United Nations Human Rights Office has called for a global ban on the practice, calling it “an egregious violation of rights to bodily autonomy, health, and free expression of one’s sexual orientation and gender identity. Ultimately, when conducted forcibly, they also represent a breach to the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment.”

In the United States, the practice is opposed by prominent professional medical associations including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

According to the think tank Movement Advancement Project, 20 states and Washington D.C., as well as several counties and cities have laws in place to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangers of the practice — which means that 32% of LGBTQ individuals in the country live in states with no laws or policies banning conversion therapy for minors.