Thousands of Christian clerics dedicated their sermon on Sunday (16) to a warning about new legislation banning “sexual conversion therapy” in Canada.
The Canadian law took effect on January 8, after being unanimously passed in both houses of the country’s Parliament in December. The legislation prohibits subjecting a person of any age, with or without their consent, to treatment that claims to change an individual’s sexual orientation.
The legislation makes it a crime to “offer, promote or advertise conversion therapy,” the Canadian Senate said in December. It also becomes a crime to profit from the provision of treatment. In addition, it is prohibited to take a child to another country “with the intention of subjecting the child to conversion therapy outside Canada”.
An initiative of the organization Liberty Coalition Canada and released by a pastor in the United States had the support of more than 4,000 Christian pastors in both countries, who protested the scope of the Canadian law in their congregations on Sunday, according to the Fox News.
The organization criticizes the legislation for describing as a “myth” the belief that heterosexuality and cisgender identity (same gender assigned at birth) are preferable.
For religious, the language used by the legislation is very broad and could include private conversations. Pastors told Fox News that they believe the scope of the new law could pave the way for religious persecution.
Brazil was the first UN country to ban conversion therapy, also called “gay healing”. In 1999, the Federal Council of Psychology (CFP) established that its professionals could not offer treatments to reverse homosexuality.
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