Thousands of Canadians still experience conversion therapy despite bans: report
Credit to Author: Tiffany Crawford| Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2020 13:00:11 +0000
Thousands of Canadian men continue to experience conversion therapy in Canada, despite efforts by various levels of government to ban the practice, according to a survey on men’s health.
Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, aims to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender. It typically involves talk therapy, medication, and sometimes electric shock therapy.
The Sex Now Survey, published today by Community-Based Research Centre, reviewed findings from more than 7,200 sexual minority men (gay, bisexual, trans, Two-Spirit and queer, or GBT2Q) from Nov. 1 to Jan. 18.
It shows that eight per cent of Canadian GBT2Q men (or an estimated 47,000 men) have experienced conversion therapy in Canada, compared with four per cent in the last survey eight years ago. Most of those who reported exposure were aged 15 to 19 followed by those aged 20 to 29.
The survey in 2011-2012 asked about a specific form of conversion therapy, while the latest survey looked at a broader range, which can explain the increase.
The long-running survey focuses on men’s health and does not include the number of sexual minority women who have been exposed to conversion therapy.
Several B.C. researchers contributed to the national study, including Travis Salway at Simon Fraser University and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, Rod Knight with the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, and Nathan Lachowsky in the faculty of Human and Social Development at the University of Victoria.
While several provinces have banned the practice in the health care system, Salway said he is not surprised conversion therapy is still happening, given that it happens outside of physicians’ offices.
“Because gay, lesbian and bisexual people are coming out at much younger ages they are more visible to the people around them than any other generation,” said Salway.
“So that provides more opportunity for people to be recommended to go to conversion therapy or helped or even forced to go.”
Exposure to conversion therapy was highest in the Territories at 28 per cent, followed by Manitoba (26 per cent,) Newfoundland and Labrador (24 per cent,) and B.C. (23 per cent.)
Salway said conversion therapy has changed over the years, so while people are less likely to be subjected to electric shock, they are more likely to be approached by someone who will recommend behavioural coaching.
“It is true that a lot of people are exposed to conversion therapy in religious settings, but in the data people report visits to unlicensed counsellors, camps, and there are even some cases where people have gone to health care providers.”
Conversion therapy falls into a broader categorization known as SOGIECE — sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression change efforts.
The report found that 20 per cent of sexual minority men report having exposure to some form of SOGIECE.
While conversion therapy refers to organized, sustained efforts, SOGIECE includes any direction or advice that intentionally delays or impedes self-acceptance of someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation.
Many people exposed to SOGIECE experience illness, including depression, anxiety, social isolation and delayed coming out, according to the researchers. They also found that Canadian youth are at a higher risk than older men to experience SOGIECE.
Research has shown that one-third of conversion therapy survivors will attempt to take their own lives, said Salway.
“It’s the response to being told your identity is not valid, you are not wanted, and you won’t be successful. If we hear those messages we internalize them and we start to feel a sense of shame, and that leads to feelings of suicide.”
He said a federal ban on the practice is a must, but there are also community resources that need support to lower rates of conversion therapy, including LGBTQ groups at schools and P-FLAG.
The practice has been banned in Vancouver, and in B.C., it is mainly performed by religious organizations.
The issue was in the spotlight during the federal election in the fall after Heather Leung, who was running as a Conservative candidate in Burnaby North-Seymour, was found promoting conversion therapy to help people escape what she called their “perverted homosexual lifestyle.”
In B.C., the government has never funded or permitted the practice of conversion therapy, and a health professional attempting to bill the public health care system for any service under the guise of conversion therapy would constitute fraud, according to the Ministry of Health.
Health Minister Adrian Dix has written to the federal government to put a ban on conversion therapy in the Criminal Code, calling it “nothing more than ignorance and prejudice disguised as a medical treatment.”
The ministry’s position is that attempting to treat or change an individual’s sexual identity is unethical, and not supported or based on peer-reviewed science.
The B.C. Psychiatric Association has described conversion therapy as an “abusive practice,” while the Canadian Mental Health Association B.C. is opposed and considers it “a human rights violation which can be extremely detrimental to the recipient’s mental health.”
Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Ontario already have legislation that restricts conversion therapy in the health care system, but often this practice happens outside of physician’s offices.
-With a file from Rob Shaw