While LGBTQ advocates in the U.S. have fought for years for a nationwide ban on conversion therapy — the controversial idea that medical treatments such as electric shock, starvation and hypnosis can “turn” a gay person straight — our neighbors to the North have beat us to it, approving legislation that would officially ban that hate and bias-based abuse across their country.
Brooke Migdon of The Hill reported that “a bill outlawing conversion therapy on Wednesday [Dec. 8] formally received ‘royal assent,’ or a ceremonial signature by the Governor-General of Canada or a deputy after being unanimously approved in both the House of Commons and the Senate.”
According to Migdon, “the ban will go into effect in 30 days, and the nation’s criminal code will be amended to make conversion therapy practices illegal in Canada for both adults and children.”
