Mexican Senate approves bill to ban conversion therapy
April 30, 2024On Thursday, the Mexican Senate passed a bill aimed at outlawing so-called conversion therapy across the nation.
As ‘Washington Blade’ reports, Yaaj México, an LGBTQ+ rights organization in Mexico, stated on X that the Senate voted in favour of the bill with a 77-4 margin, and 15 abstentions. Previously, the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Mexico’s congress, had approved the bill, which proposes jail terms of two to six years and fines for those offering conversion therapy.
The Senate, on its X account, characterised conversion therapy as “practices that have incentivized the violation of human rights of the LGBTTTIQ+ community.”
“The Senate moved (to) sanction therapies that impede or annul a person’s orientation or gender identity,” it stated. “There are aggravating factors when the practices are done to minors, older adults, and people with disabilities.”
Regions within Mexico, including Mexico City and the states of Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Jalisco, and Sonora, have already enacted bans on this discredited practice.
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While the Senate had previously passed a bill banning conversion therapy in 2022, it failed to advance in the House of Deputies. It remains unclear whether President Andrés Manuel López Obrador endorses the current ban.
Other countries that have banned conversion therapy include Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, France, and New Zealand. In the United States, Virginia, California, and the District of Columbia have laws that prohibit the practice for minors.
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