{"id":28236,"date":"2026-05-01T10:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T10:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/28236\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T10:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T10:48:11","slug":"european-parliament-votes-in-favour-of-eu-wide-conversion-therapy-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/28236\/","title":{"rendered":"European Parliament votes in favour of EU-wide conversion therapy ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                <img width=\"792\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/EU-trans.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"An LGBTQ+ Pride flag in between two European Union flags.\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">An LGBTQ+ Pride flag in between two European Union flags.. (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepinknews.com\/topic\/european-parliament\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">European Parliament<\/a> has voted in favour of a proposed EU-wide ban on so-called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepinknews.com\/topic\/conversion-therapy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">conversion therapy<\/a>\u201d in a win for LGBTQ+ rights.<\/p>\n<p>The vote, which took place on 29 April, is now being sent to the European Commission, the EU\u2019s main executive body that can introduce the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>The issue was discussed following a petition from the European Citizens\u2019 Initiative. The petition in question featured more than 1.2million signatures, which have been collected since 2024, in support of a conversion therapy ban.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the vote, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a debate on the topic earlier this week. The debate resulted in the committee calling for stronger enforcement of the European Union\u2019s LGBTIQ+ Equality Strategy 2026-2030, as well as an EU-wide ban on conversion therapy.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eesc.europa.eu\/en\/news-media\/press-releases\/eesc-firmly-rejects-conversion-practices-seen-hate-crimes-and-fully-backs-eu-lgbtiq-equality-strategy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a> published on 29 April, EESC president S\u00e9amus\u202fBoland said: \u201cThese so-called conversion practices or therapies are not only harmful, they are a profound violation of human dignity and fundamental rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continued: \u201cLet us be absolutely clear: there is nothing to fix or cure. What needs to change is not people, but the systems, attitudes, and structures that deny them their dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conversion therapy is a broad term which refers to several practices that attempt to change a person\u2019s sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n<p>Research suggests that conversion therapy takes place all across the world, and can range from forms of \u201ctalk therapy\u201d to physical abuse or \u201caversion therapy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Conversion therapy is already banned in seven EU countries, including France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Greece and Malta. The latter was the first to ban the practice in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Most medical organisations view conversion therapy as a pseudoscientific and damaging practice. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has described it as \u201charmful\u201d and has instructed its members to \u201crefrain from attempts\u201d to change a person\u2019s sexual orientation.<\/p>\n<p>Studies have found that those who are subjected to conversion therapy have an increased risk of suicidal ideation.<\/p>\n<p>Share your thoughts!\u00a0Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An LGBTQ+ Pride flag in between two European Union flags.. (Getty) The European Parliament has voted in favour&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14269,18898,39,258,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-28236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-conversion-therapy","9":"tag-conversion-therapy-ban","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-european-parliament","12":"tag-european-union"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}