LGBTQ people should be protected from so called ‘conversion therapy’
Labour Senator Ivana Bacik has described as ‘alarming’ the reports that LGBTQ “conversion” materials and programmes are being offered in Ireland. Senator Bacik is a co-sponsor of legislation currently before the Houses of the Oireachtas seeking a ban on so-called “conversion therapies” being offered in Ireland.
Sen. Bacik said;
“I find it alarming to hear reports that organisations in operation in Ireland today are seeking to suppress the identities of so many people. Members of the LGBTQ community in Ireland have fought and won many battles in recent years to have rights recognised and protected. That, however, does not mean that we live in a country absent from homophobia and transphobia.
“One of the most dangerous elements of these practices is its dressing up as medical care by describing it as ‘therapy’ – the sort of practice that we seek to prohibit in the Bill is not therapy in any sense. It is more a brainwashing or manipulation technique.”
“These revelations only bolster the need for the legislation currently passing through the Seanad right now. Senator Fintan Warfield’s Bill, which I am proud to co-sponsor, intends to prohibit these practices. Vulnerable LGBTQ people should not be subjected to these practices which pose a threat to people’s wellbeing.