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LGBTQ groups seek legal ban on Swiss conversion therapy

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Agnès Pedrero, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="People participate in the Pride March LGBTQ + Pride (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, and more), in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 6, 2019. Martial Trezzini, EPA-EFE/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/12/02/20181121-lgbtq-pride-epa.jpg"/><figcaption>People participate in the Pride March LGBTQ + Pride (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, and more), in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 6, 2019. <em>Martial Trezzini, EPA-EFE/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>GENEVA — LGBTQ organizations in Switzerland are concerned that without swift action, the country could become a haven for conversion therapy, which is banned in neighboring France and Germany.</p><p>Swiss lawmakers will start debating a motion calling for a ban on Monday, a year after the government pledged to take up the issue of conversion therapy.</p><p>Designed to change sexual orientation in favor of heterosexuality, the practice is mainly performed in religious settings.</p><p>In Germany and France, &quot;attempts at conversion are already banned, and initiatives to ban them throughout the European Union are underway,&quot; said Pink Cross, the Swiss national umbrella organization of gay and bisexual men.</p><p>&quot;We absolutely have to prevent Switzerland from becoming a refuge for &#x27;gay healers.&#x27;&quot;</p><p>Political and civil society representatives have pointed to the arrival in Zurich of the Bruderschaft des Weges (Brotherhood of the Way) association, following the change of law in Germany.</p><p>The group, which did not respond to questions from AFP, says on its website that it rejects &quot;any form of conversion treatment&quot; and &quot;does not offer any form of therapy&quot;.</p><p>It says it is a &quot;community of men who experience conflict in their sexuality&quot; and &quot;for reasons of our Christian faith, we therefore do not want to live our sexuality.&quot;</p><div><strong>COMMUNITY PRESSURE</strong></div><p>Across Europe, France, Germany, Greece, and Malta have banned conversion therapies, while moves are being considered in Britain, Spain, and Belgium.</p><p>According to Philippe Gilbert, of the Intercantonal Centre for Information on Beliefs, no religious structures in Switzerland are using the term &quot;conversion therapy.&quot;</p><p>&quot;We hear the term &#x27;accompaniment&#x27;. There is a wide spectrum of practices: prayer groups, laying on of hands, exorcism in certain cases, but also weekend meetings between men to discover one&#x27;s true masculinity,&quot; he told AFP.</p><p>&quot;This doesn&#x27;t mean that within certain religious communities or para-ecclesial structures there is not some level of violence towards individuals, who may face suggestions or even pressure to work on their sexual orientation.&quot;</p><p>Treatments such as electroshock therapy are not conducted in Switzerland, but LGBTQ groups insist an outright ban is needed to send a signal.</p><p>Adrian Stiefel, 45, founder of the LGBTQ branch of the Protestant Church of Geneva, stressed the importance of &quot;raising awareness&quot; in society.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s a problem rooted in mostly religious communities that condemn homosexuality and that, because of this community pressure, really leave the individual with no freedom of choice,&quot; he told AFP.</p><p>Having grown up in Geneva in an evangelical environment, for a long time he attempted to &quot;cure&quot; his sexual orientation through group prayer with pastors and meetings with &quot;so-called cured&quot; former gay men.</p><p>Aged 19, he underwent a week of &quot;therapy&quot; in the United States with a psychiatrist pastor, combining &quot;psychotherapy with a form of exorcism.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/24/22/hrw-reports-lgbtq-jail-beatings-before-qatar-world-cup">HRW reports LGBTQ jail beatings before Qatar World Cup</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/03/10/20/canada-moves-to-ban-conversion-therapy">Canada moves to ban &#x27;conversion therapy&#x27;</a></li></ul><div><strong>&#x27;I FEEL THE VIOLENCE NOW&#x27;</strong></div><p>Stiefel said these practices are often done &quot;in a very benevolent support framework&quot;, making it difficult to realize that they are &quot;not normal&quot;.</p><p>Also raised in an evangelical environment, Isaac de Oliveira, 25, a history student in Lausanne, went through a &quot;pastoral accompaniment&quot; to &quot;evolve towards heterosexuality&quot;, while growing up in the rural Wallis region in southwest Switzerland.</p><p>At 18, he started attending a seminar by the Torrents de Vie association, with weekly meetings for nearly a year, which included praise and prayers.</p><p>&quot;I have a brain that has been modified over the years to pursue an ideal that I am not,&quot; he told AFP.</p><p>&quot;I feel the violence now; it was camouflaged behind love that was conditional.&quot;</p><p>Conversion therapies are not solely the prerogative of evangelical circles, although they are regularly singled out in the media, according to various observers.</p><p>The Swiss Evangelical Network is opposed to conversion &quot;therapies&quot; but thinks the legislation is the wrong option. It stresses the right to &quot;sexual self-determination&quot; and the importance of &quot;ecclesial and pastoral accompaniment&quot; when sexuality &quot;generates an inner conflict&quot;.</p><p>&quot;We are touching on the bases of religious freedom by wanting to ban too much,&quot; Stephane Klopfenstein, pastor and deputy director of the Swiss Evangelical Network, told AFP.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/12/17/20/more-than-300-religious-leaders-urge-ban-on-conversion-therapy">More than 300 religious leaders urge ban on &#x27;conversion therapy&#x27;</a></li></ul><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1641572" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

LGBTQ organizations in Switzerland are concerned that without swift action, the country could become a haven for conversion therapy, which is banned in neighboring France and Germany.

LGBTQ groups seek legal ban on Swiss conversion therapy

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LGBTQ groups seek legal ban on Swiss conversion therapy

Agnès Pedrero,

Agence France-Presse

Published Dec 02, 2022 02:56 PM PHT

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conversion therapy

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