Parliament definitively adopted this Tuesday, with a final vote of the deputies, a bill LREM which targets "conversion therapies", practices aimed at imposing heterosexuality on lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) people.
These are now prohibited.
The text carried by the presidential majority, in the wake of LREM MP Laurence Vanceunebrock, creates a new offense in the Penal Code punishing these practices with two years' imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.
The penalties may increase to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros in the event of aggravating circumstances.
Read alsoConversion therapy: “Jesus was asked to heal me of my homosexuality”
Theoretically, “conversion therapies” are already punishable via a large number of offences: moral harassment, violence or illegal practice of medicine, etc.
Proponents of the proposed law, which has a broad consensus, argue, however, that this new offense will raise awareness of the illegality of these practices.
It is also supposed to provide a stronger legal basis for prosecution.
A hundred “recent” cases
The text has the unreserved support of the government which sees, in "conversion therapy", "the antithesis of our republican values", as stated by Elisabeth Moreno, Minister Delegate for Equality between Women and Men .
“Conversion therapy” can take the form of exorcism sessions, internships or electroshock, among a myriad of abuses that have lasting psychological or even physical repercussions on the people, often young, who are victims.
According to a report by Laurence Vanceunebrock, co-authored with her “rebellious” colleague Bastien Lachaud, the expression “conversion therapies” was born in America in the 1950s. They have no scientific or medical basis.
There is no national survey in France to assess the extent of the phenomenon.
In 2019, parliamentarians mentioned around a hundred “recent” cases.