German Health Minister Jens Spahn has announced he will seek to ban conversion therapies that claim to change sexual orientation. "Homosexuality is not an illness, which is why it does not need to be treated," Medical Xpress reports Spahn, who is gay himself is quoted as saying. He hoped that a German law banning such therapies could be adopted by the middle of the year.
The report says conversion therapies have spread in the US and have been used by parents of homosexual or transgender adolescents against their will. Some techniques involve injections of large doses of testosterone, while others apply electric shocks to people as they view images of homosexual acts.
"I do not believe in these therapies, mainly owing to my own homosexuality," said Spahn. The health minister is counting on support from his colleagues if and when a vote is taken.
"I cannot imagine there is a partisan of conversion therapies in my parliamentary group," he said.
The report says within the EU, only Malta and some Spanish regions have banned the practices outright. In March 2018, a large majority of European Parliament deputies nonetheless adopted a non-binding text that called on member states to outlaw them.
[link url="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-02-germany-gay-conversion-therapies.html"]Medical Xpress report[/link]