PROMINENT figures in the Limerick LGBTQI+ community have welcomed the announcement of research to inform a ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy’ of people within that community.
Equality Minister Roderic O’Gorman has announced last week that research is being conducted by a team from the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin.
Conversion therapies are practices that can be defined as any treatment aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. They have been widely discredited as being both ineffective and harmful to those who are exposed to them.
Announcing the research, Minister O’Gorman said: “I want to reaffirm the Government’s commitment to legislate to ban the practice of conversion therapy. The research will ensure that the legislation is based on reliable evidence, and grounded in best international practice.”
Chairperson of Limerick LGBTQI+ Lisa Daly said that even some people in health and social services believe that members of the community can be ‘cured’.
“No one should be told their identity is something that can be cured,” she explained.
“Yet many lesbian, gay, bi and trans people are treated poorly by health and social care services, including by staff who believe that sexual orientation or gender identity is something that can be ‘cured’.
“On the basis of this, and wider evidence, we are calling for the government to publicly condemn this practice and take further steps to ensure the practice is unavailable.
“We are also calling for health and social care leaders and regulators to communicate a clear message to psychotherapists and counsellors that trying to ‘cure’ lesbian, gay, bi and trans people is both harmful and dangerous.”
Member of the National LGBT Federation, Adam Long, from Killaloe, said at the launch of Limerick Pride Festival that there are “still challenges” facing the community, and conversion therapy is one of them.
“It’s hard to believe that in Ireland in 2022 that there attempts – usually but not only in a religious setting – to change someone’s innate identity.
“We need a ban on this so-called conversion therapy and it needs to be on the grounds of gender and sexual identity as well.”
Speaking as one of those who launched the campaign to ban the practice, Mr Long said that the UN has branded conversion therapy a form of torture.
People who would like to know more about the study or wish to take part can contact conversiontherapy@tcd.ie
