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Conversion Therapy – which is used to try and change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression – is on track to become prohibited and punishable by criminal law in Mexico.
Mexico’s Senate voted to prohibit and criminally punish conversion therapy, with a ban on any therapy or treatment used to “impede, restrict, diminish, annul or suppress a person’s sexual orientation, identity or gender expression.”
The changes to the Federal Penal Code and the Health General Law were approved with 69 votes in favor, two against and 16 abstentions. It will now be sent to the lower house for votes.
Under the reform, anyone found guilty of performing conversion therapy can be fined nearly $10,000 USD (almost $200,000 Mexican Pesos) and face up to six years in prison. The sanctions can be doubled if the harmful practices are imposed on a person who is under 18, elderly or has a disability.
The changes in the law were first proposed back in 2018 by Sen. Patricia Mercado. She later said on Twitter that the “cruel and inhumane” practices have already done great harm to people in Mexico and need to be outlawed in the country.
“There’s nothing to cure, it is not a disease,” Mercado, said on Twitter after the vote. “These are cruel and inhuman treatments that we have to stop in our country because they cause great pain and damage.”
Along with Mercado, the legislative proposal was first presented in 2018 by Green Party Senator Alejandra Lagunes, Morena Senator Citlalli Hernandez, who serves as the ruling party’s secretary general, and activists explained the LGBTQ rights organization “Yaaj Mexico” in a press release. The organization said that up until today 12 Mexico states, including Mexico City, had prohibited conversion therapy.
“This law reaffirms the need to put an end to practices without a scientific basis that violate the human rights of the people submitted to conversion therapy,” Yaaj Mexico said.
Senator Lagunes said on Twitter that the Senate will continue working to protect LGBTQ rights in the country.
If it passes the lower house the ban will be a big advancement over the current United States bans – According to Wikipedia, In the US, a total of 25 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 100 municipalities (mostly located in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota), have banned the practice of conversion therapy on minors. Penalties range from fines to imprisonment. The District of Columbia is the only U.S. jurisdiction whose ban also applies to adults. Three states ban the use of state and federal funds for conversion therapy on minors. In some jurisdictions, bans on conversion therapy have been enjoined on First Amendment grounds.
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