The Senate examines Tuesday a bill LREM to ban pseudo "
conversion therapy
", practices aimed at imposing heterosexuality on lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) people, a text that the left would like to strengthen, while LR senators oppose the mention of gender identity. "
It is a useful text, on a very underground phenomenon, but which awakens old demons
", notes the centrist rapporteur in the Senate Dominique Vérien. Adopted at first reading unanimously by the National Assembly in October, and supported by the government, the text of the deputy Laurence Vanceunebrock provides for a specific offense against so-called "
therapists
" or religious who claim to "
cure
»Homosexuals.
According to the bill, "
practices, behaviors or repeated comments aimed at modifying or repressing the sexual orientation or gender identity, true or supposed, of a person and having the effect of altering their health physical or mental are punished by two years imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros
”.
Read alsoThe text on "conversion therapy" retouched in the Senate
The sanction is increased to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros in the event of aggravating circumstances, in particular when the victim is a minor, dependent or the perpetrator is in the ascendant. Senators adopted the text in committee with a handful of amendments from the rapporteur. In particular, this involves ensuring that people who make repeated comments aiming to encourage caution before initiating a gender reassignment medical course are not incriminated. The government tabled amendments to remove this change, which was deemed “
unnecessary
”. But the debate risks crystallizing on gender identity. In committee,the senators rejected the amendments made by Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio (LR) aimed at removing from the text a concept considered poorly defined.
"Barbarian practice"
The senator from Val-d'Oise will again defend in the hemicycle these amendments co-signed by more than thirty of her colleagues from the Les Républicains group, including their president Bruno Retailleau.
The left is standing up against this attempt to restrict the scope of the text, Socialist Senator Marie-Pierre de La Gontrie lambasting an "
archaic and retrograde vision of society
".
"
Obviously we are all defenders of freedom and tolerance, except that here everything is mixed up
", justifies Ms. Eustache-Brinio.
“
Gender identity, I don't know what it is, there is no definition.
The centrist rapporteur argues that the concept is established and already present in the penal code.
"
Not naming transgender people would mean leaving them victims of a barbaric practice
, ”she underlines.
Read alsoLondon wants to fight against conversion therapies criminally
Another amendment by Mrs Eustache-Brinio, which was not adopted either in committee, is also likely to provoke a debate: it proposes to ban puberty-blocking treatments, hormone therapy and surgical operations before the age of 18.
The left will propose for its part to broaden the perimeter of the prejudice retained to characterize the offense, by including the actions “
likely to infringe the rights or the dignity
” of a person.
The demonstration of the deterioration of physical or mental health would thus no longer be necessary to characterize the offense.
A "hundred recent cases"
There is no national survey in France to assess the extent of the phenomenon of "
conversion therapy
", which can take a wide variety of forms. During a parliamentary mission in 2019, Laurence Vanceunebrock and the Insoumis Bastien Lachaud referred to "a
hundred recent cases
", being alarmed at "
the increase in reports
". They describe treatments by "
hypnosis
", "
hormones
" or even "
electroshock
", "
religious
"
drifts
between "
calls for abstinence
" and "
exorcism
"
sessions
, or the use of
heterosexual "
forced marriages
".
Read alsoHomophobia: the National Assembly unanimously votes a new offense against "conversion therapy"
Other countries have explicitly banned them: in Europe, Malta and Germany, and several provinces in Spain.
In 2019, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on EU member states to ban them.
In Canada, a bill banning "
conversion therapy
" was passed unanimously on December 1 in the Commons, the lower house of Parliament.
It must now be approved by the Canadian Senate.