Ontario has passed a landmark law banning so-called “conversion therapy” on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children and preventing medical practitioners from billing OHIP for it.
The legislation proposed by New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo won unanimous support from all three parties at Queen’s Park on Thursday, in time for Pride week, which begins June 19.
It’s the first law of its kind in Canada and goes further than conversion therapy bans in several U.S. states by including protection for the transgender community.
“We’re sending an incredibly strong message . . . there’s absolutely no room in an inclusive society for trying to change somebody’s sexual identity or their gender expression or their gender identity,” DiNovo told the Star.
She said LGBTQ children are sometimes forced into the therapy by anxious parents and noted transgender people have an attempted suicide rate of 50 per cent.
Susan Gapka, founder and chair of the Trans Lobby Group, called the bill “huge progress” while Health Minister Eric Hoskins, a family doctor, called conversion therapy a “dangerous treatment” and said people have the right “to be who they are.”
“The practice of conversion therapy has no place in Ontario, a province where acceptance, respect and diversity are our most cherished strengths,” he added in a statement.
Ontario becomes first province to ban 'conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ children | Toronto Star
The legislation proposed by New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo won unanimous support from all three parties at Queen’s Park on Thursday, in time for Pride week, which begins June 19.
It’s the first law of its kind in Canada and goes further than conversion therapy bans in several U.S. states by including protection for the transgender community.
“We’re sending an incredibly strong message . . . there’s absolutely no room in an inclusive society for trying to change somebody’s sexual identity or their gender expression or their gender identity,” DiNovo told the Star.
She said LGBTQ children are sometimes forced into the therapy by anxious parents and noted transgender people have an attempted suicide rate of 50 per cent.
Susan Gapka, founder and chair of the Trans Lobby Group, called the bill “huge progress” while Health Minister Eric Hoskins, a family doctor, called conversion therapy a “dangerous treatment” and said people have the right “to be who they are.”
“The practice of conversion therapy has no place in Ontario, a province where acceptance, respect and diversity are our most cherished strengths,” he added in a statement.
Ontario becomes first province to ban 'conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ children | Toronto Star
