Iceland outlaws conversion therapy in landslide vote

The annual gay pride parade in Reykjavík, Iceland, in August 2011.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Icelandic parliament has unanimously passed a comprehensive conversion therapy ban, prohibiting the practice on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

On Friday, lawmakers approved the legislation with 53 yes votes and three abstentions. Now anyone who forces a child to undergo conversion therapy can go to prison for up to five years, and anyone who tries to force an adult to go faces up to three years. In addition, those who actually administer conversion therapy could go to prison for up to two years.

Icelandic journalist and nonbinary activist Ugla Stefanía Kristjönudóttir Jónsdóttir tweeted that the bill passed “despite attempts from known anti-trans hates groups under English influence to oppose it, and wrongfully claiming they managed to ‘kill the bill.’ Their arguments were dismissed as anti-scientific and anti-trans rhetoric.”

Conversion therapy is based on the idea that LGBTQ+ identity is a problem to be fixed, which can lead to long-term damage to victims’ self-esteem. A 2013 survey showed that 84 percent of former patients of conversion therapy said it…

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