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Author: QI News

Mexico’s Senate votes in favour of a bill which would ban conversion therapy for ALL LGBTQ+ people. Your move, Liz Truss.

Mexico’s Senate has voted to prohibit and criminally punish conversion therapy for ALL LGBTQ+ people. 

 

On Tuesday (October 11), 69 lawmakers voted in favour of a bill imposing a full ban on the archaic practice of conversion therapy, with two against and 16 abstentions.

 

The practice of conversion therapy can take various forms but often refers to any form of treatment or psychotherapy which aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or to suppress a person’s gender identity, using psychological, physical, or spiritual interventions. It is based on the assumption that being lesbian, gay, bi or trans is a mental illness that can be ‘cured’.

These therapies are widely considered ineffective, unethical and harmful for anyone who undergoes the process.

 

The changes to the Federal Penal Code and the Health General Law, which will cover both sexual orientation and gender identity, would see anything used to “impede, restrict, diminish, annul or suppress a person’s sexual orientation, identity or gender expression” prohibited in the country, reports the Citizens Movement political party, via Bloomerg.

 

The bill now heads to the country’s lower chamber and, if passed, will suggest penalties from two to 12 years in prison.

 

 

The bill was first introduced by senators from the parties Citizen Movement, Morena and the Green Party back in October 2018.

 

Following the vote, Citizens Movement Senator Patricia Mercado, who was one of the people to first present the proposal in 2018, said on Twitter: “There’s nothing to cure, it is not a disease,”

“These are cruel and inhuman treatments that we have to stop in our country because they cause great pain and damage.”

 

“This law reaffirms the need to put an end to practices without a scientific basis that violate the human rights of the people submitted to conversion therapy,” LGBTQ+ rights organisation Yaaj Mexico said.

 

The news puts the UK Government to shame, after a complete fucking shit show shambolic public display over banning the practice, which was first promised by former Prime Minister Theresa May, back in 2018.

 

In June, the House of Commons debated a petition signed by over 145,000 people calling for a trans-inclusive ban on the archaic practice of conversion therapy in the UK.

MPs from across the political spectrum spoke up in defence of trans people and called for a ban covering all LGBTQ+ people in the UK.

 

The petition was created after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrapped plans for a ban covering all LGBTQ+ people, instead confirming plans to move forward with legislation outlawing conversion therapy only on the basis of sexuality.

 

More than one in 10 trans people in the UK have been offered or have undergone conversion therapy, according to the government’s own National LGBT Survey.

 

During the House of Commons debate, Labour MP Luke Pollard, gave a ‘shout out’ to trans Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney and touched on his own experience growing up in the UK as a closeted gay teen.

 

“When I was a spotted, closeted teenager, there were not an awful lot of LGBT role models in society. No professional footballers or Olympic athletes,” Pollard said. “There are now.” 

“We have visibility in our society. I am pleased with all my heart that young people can now see LGBT people both in the public eye and on screen.

 

Pollard continued, “As some members will know, I am an unapologetic fan of Netflix’s Heartstopper. I remember being both Nick and Charlie at school.”

“Yasmin Finney, who plays Elle, is epic in her acting; however, for me, it is her class and visibility as a trans actor, and her transfer to the Doctor Who universe, that has inspired not only me but young trans people across the world.”

 


After Liz Truss was voted to become the next Conservative Party leader (September 6), leading LGBT+ charities in the UK have urged her not to break previous promises to ban conversion therapy practices for all, which she made before coming into power.

 

A video shared by the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition – made up of 79 LGBT+ and human rights charities, including Stonewall – highlights the repeated promises that Ms Truss made when she was Minister for Women and Equalities to ban the “abhorrent” practice.

 

Truss repeatedly told Parliament she would move forwards with a long-promised ban, insisting conversion practices “have no place in our society”.

 

Your move, Truss. 

 

 

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