Zero tolerance in Australia: crack down on gay ‘conversion’ therapy
By Farrah Tomazin, The Age Victoria:
The state government will attempt to crack down on so-called gay conversion therapy through a new public watchdog with the power to investigate people purporting to “cure” or suppress homosexuality.
The move comes amid growing concerns that such practices remain prevalent in Australia – including alarming claims of shock treatment or aversion tactics being used in recent years in a bid to thwart same-sex attraction.
The Sunday Age has been told of cases whereby men had been advised wear an elastic band on their wrist and flick themselves every time they felt desire towards another man.
One person recounted his own shock treatment in Sydney six years ago, when a practitioner – referred by the man’s Maronite priest – would show him pictures of men and women, and zap him with a small device every time a male image appeared.
“When the image comes up, they send a shock wave to the system so it conditions the body and the brain so that you don’t have a reaction,” said the 25-year-old singer-songwriter, who is now openly gay but did not wish to be named. “It’s designed to stop the sexual message.”
The claims are likely to alarm the government, which has vowed to take a zero-tolerance approach on anyone attempting to treat homosexuality as a disorder that can be fixed through medical or therapeutic means.
Legislation will be introduced into parliament later this year to establish a new watchdog – the Health Complaints Commissioner – with the power to investigate and sanction anyone claiming they can treat homosexuality.
While registered practitioners can already be investigated by authorities, the legislation will close a loophole that currently exists regarding unregistered practitioners making unproven claims that they can covert gay people.
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