{"id":15849,"date":"2026-05-13T18:01:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/the-european-commission-seeks-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:01:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:01:22","slug":"the-european-commission-seeks-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/the-european-commission-seeks-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"The European Commission seeks to ban gay \u2018conversion therapy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemscope=\"\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n                                                                    <picture><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Gay_conversion_therapy_AP-320x200.jpg?v=1778689901\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"600\" class=\"picture-main-block-image\" data-nxsrc=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Gay_conversion_therapy_AP.jpg?v=1778689901\" alt=\"The European Commission seeks to ban gay \u2018conversion therapy\u2019\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Gay_conversion_therapy_AP-960x600.jpg?v=1778689901\"\/><br \/>\n                        <\/source><\/picture>\n<p>Demonstrators hold placards during a protest outside from the Parliament house in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, May 25, 2023. [Petros Karadjias\/AP Photo]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>The European Commission said Wednesday it will ask all European Union nations to outlaw gay \u201cconversion therapy\u201d following a public campaign to ban the practice and just days before the annual Brussels Pride festival celebrating the LGTBQ+ community.<\/p>\n<p>European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that \u201cconversion practices\u201d have \u201cno place in our Union.\u201d Increasing protections for LGTBQ+ citizens has been long promised by the EU executive since she took office in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The EU\u2019s Agency for Fundamental Rights said in 2024 that one in four LGTBQ+ citizens polled had been subjected to the scientifically discredited practice to attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. Reports of the practice were highest in Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovakia.<\/p>\n<p>The commission\u2019s move was prompted by more than a million EU citizens petitioning for \u201ca binding legal ban on conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ citizens in the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just 10 of 27 EU nations either fully or partially outlaw conversion therapy, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association \u2013 Europe.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, Malta was the first EU nation to outlaw any attempt to change the sexual orientation of gay people. Since, France too has banned it and authorized jail time and fines for anyone using the practice to attempt to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ+ people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConversion practices are built on a lie, the lie that LGBTQ+ people need to be fixed, that there is something wrong with who they are. And there is, of course, nothing to fix, there is nothing to cure, and there is no one to change,\u201d said Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality. \u201cYou cannot torture away a person\u2019s identity, and you cannot legislate it away. And yet these practices continue, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tens of thousands are expected to march Saturday across Brussels, the institutional heart of the EU, as the city holds its 30th annual parade for LGTBQ+ rights and culture. [AP]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>\n        var NXFBPixelFunc = function () {\n            document.removeEventListener(\"scroll\", NXFBPixelFunc);\n            setTimeout(function () {\n                !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n                    if (f.fbq) return;\n                    n = f.fbq = function () {\n                        n.callMethod ?\n                            n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments)\n                    };\n                    if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n                    n.push = n;\n                    n.loaded = !0;\n                    n.version = '2.0';\n                    n.queue = [];\n                    t = b.createElement(e);\n                    t.async = !0;\n                    t.src = v;\n                    s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n                    s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s)\n                }(window, document, 'script',\n                    'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n                fbq('init', '109138906120213');\n                fbq('track', 'PageView');\n            }, 0)\n        };\n        document.addEventListener(\"scroll\", NXFBPixelFunc);\n    <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/politics\/1303682\/the-european-commission-seeks-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Demonstrators hold placards during a protest outside from the Parliament house in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, May 25, 2023. [Petros Karadjias\/AP Photo] The European Commission said Wednesday it will ask all European Union nations to outlaw gay \u201cconversion therapy\u201d following a public campaign to ban the practice and just days before the annual Brussels Pride festival &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"The European Commission seeks to ban gay \u2018conversion therapy\u2019\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/the-european-commission-seeks-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy\/#more-15849\" aria-label=\"Read more about The European Commission seeks to ban gay \u2018conversion therapy\u2019\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Gay_conversion_therapy_AP-960x600.jpg?v=1778689901","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}