The European Commission has called on all European Union member states to outlaw gay 'conversion therapy', following a public campaign against the practice. The announcement was made on Wednesday, just days before the annual Brussels Pride festival.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that 'conversion practices' have 'no place in our Union'. The EU executive had long promised to increase protections for LGBTQ+ citizens since she took office in 2019.
The EU's Agency for Fundamental Rights reported in 2024 that one in four LGBTQ+ citizens polled had been subjected to the scientifically discredited practice aiming to change sexual orientation or gender identity. The practice was most common in Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Slovakia.
The Commission's move was prompted by a petition from over a million EU citizens calling for 'a binding legal ban on conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ citizens in the European Union'. Currently, only 10 of the 27 EU nations have either fully or partially outlawed conversion therapy, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association - Europe.
Malta became the first EU nation to ban attempts to change the sexual orientation of gay people in 2016. France has since also banned the practice, authorising jail time and fines for offenders. Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality, said: 'Conversion practices are built on a lie, the lie that LGBTQ+ people need to be fixed... There is nothing to fix, there is nothing to cure, and there is no one to change.'
Tens of thousands are expected to march in Brussels on Saturday for the city's 30th annual LGBTQ+ rights parade.
