First modification:
The new law includes criminal sanctions for those accused of trying to “convert” people with sexual orientations or gender identities that dissent from traditional gender expectations.
With a total unanimous vote of 142 in favor and none against, the National Assembly approved legislation that prohibits so-called “talk therapy” and authorizes fines and jail terms for those who use this homophobic practice.
The law also has an advance that allows activists and human rights defenders to file civil lawsuits on behalf of victims, something that helps people who are not sure to make a complaint or do not have the possibility of alerting the police. by themselves.
✅ Interdiction of conversion therapies | Unanimity adoption of the PPL interdisant the practices aimed at modifying the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person, compte tenu du texte de la commission mixte paritaire.
➡ https://t.co/esDkrXl15W #DirectAN pic.twitter.com/OHFFebsLnN— Assemblée nationale (@AssembleeNat) January 25, 2022
According to the new legislation, those who insistently seek to “modify or repress the sexual orientation or gender identity” of any person and that this influences the physical or mental health of the victims, will be punished with up to two years in prison and 34,000 dollar fine.
Penalties can increase to three years behind bars and can carry fines of $50,000 in cases involving minors or “particularly vulnerable” people.
“There is nothing to cure”
“This law is aimed at all those who associate a sexual identity or orientation with a disease,” said lawmaker Laurence Vanceunebrock, one of the leaders of the approval of the law in Parliament. “There is nothing to cure,” he added.
The French government’s minister for equality and diversity, Elisabeth Moreno, called so-called conversion therapies “barbaric” and told lawmakers that the suffering “very often leaves permanent marks on bodies and minds.”
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, proudly celebrated the approval of the law on his Twitter account, assuring that “these unworthy practices have no place in the Republic” and that “being oneself is not a crime, because there is nothing to cure”.
The loi interdisant les conversion therapies is adopted unanimously!
Soyons-en fiers, ces pratiques indignes n’ont pas leur place en République. It seems that I am not involved in a crime, it seems that I am not laughing.— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 25, 2022
The exercise of conversations that seek to change a person’s sexual orientation is already prohibited in several states of the United States and in the Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico.
The law will enter into force in the next 14 days with the signature of President Emmanuel Macron.
With AP and local media