While the world is becoming more accepting of LGBTQ people for the most part, many people in China are forced to undergo conversion therapy, according to Reuters.
Conversion therapy is a practice that I’ve written about many times and that has no legitimate scientific basis in reality and no reputable reports that it works at all, but still, people are forced into it. What’s worse is that in China, more often than not, this “therapy” is done by someone who does not have a medical license or in public hospitals because this practice hasn’t been banned. If that doesn’t scream sketchy to you, I don’t know what does. The fact that this is done by unlicensed people should be a good indicator that actual medical professionals don’t see this as a legitimate form of therapy and, as such, should be banned.
LGBT people in China, while undergoing conversion therapy, may be subject to illegal shock therapy, which can cause any number of problems to arise.
However, people in China aren’t just accepting conversion therapy and are instead fighting against it. Head of the Public Interest Law Center on Equal Rights for LGBTI Wang Zhenyu said “It’s not just a commercial scam, but an action that violates people’s rights,” and I have to agree with him, as conversion therapy does take away a person’s right to live their life authentically, considering the Chinese government removed homosexuality from a list of diseases in 2001, implying that they believe that homosexuality is normal, or at least shouldn’t be subject to animus.
Another example of people fighting against conversion therapy is one instance of a man suing a hospital in Zhumadian and winning because he was forced into the psychiatric ward where he had to strip naked and take medication, presumably to “cure” his homosexuality. This is definitely a good sign that China is on its way to ban conversion therapy nationwide. It’s a baby step but a very important one.
Currently, there are 96 hospitals and centers that offer the practice, so the fight to ban conversion therapy might be an uphill battle, but judging by the fact that people are actively fighting against it makes me feel hopeful that this abhorrent faux practice will one day be a thing of the past.
Source: Reuters
This world has a big human population problem. Many of this world’s biggest issues and crises have been and are being caused because the human population has sky rocketted over the last 100 years. We all know this. China knows it all too well. China has even tried out a one child per family policy – which has failed because it used coercive methods. China should realise that more people means more gay, bi, trans and non binary people. This should not be a problem for China, nor for this world. So, why is China making it out to be a problem?!