Mexico Senate Votes to Consider Conversion Therapy to be a Criminal Offence

Institutes practicing conversion therapy are to be prohibited in Mexico following votes by the Senate earlier this week. According to reports from Bloomberg UK, 69 members voted in favor of banning the treatment, against 16 abstentions. The lower house will vote on the bill as a result of this outcome.

Conversion therapy, the outdated practice which seeks to change its subject’s sexuality and gender identity through scientifically proven falsehoods, has impacted the lives of countless LGBTQ+ people across the globe. It is being heavily reconsidered in multiple countries, with the Mexico Senate vote putting the inhuman act a step closer to being eradicated.

According to a statement from the Citizens Movement party, the proposal sought to make changes to the Federal Penal Code and the Health General Law to prohibit any pseudoscientific therapy that would “impede, restrict, diminish, annul or suppress a person’s sexual orientation, identity or gender expression,”.

Senator Patricia Mercado took to Twitter to speak on behalf of the LGBTQ+ people in danger of undergoing such a treatment, stating “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.”

Mercado originally presented the proposal in 2018, one of the first to do so along with Green Party Senator Alejandra Lagunes and Morena Senator Citlalli Hernandez. Senator Lagunes posted on Twitter to share the belief that diversity inherently enhances society, and that the Senate will make further changes to protect people in the LGBTQ+ community and their rights in Mexico.