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Current Affairs

EU won’t ban LGBTQ ‘conversion therapy’ but will push states to act

The European Union will not ban “conversion therapy” targeting LGBTQ people, but will push member states to take action against such practices, it said on…

By Samantha Johnson / May 13, 2026
The European Union will not ban “conversion therapy” targeting LGBTQ people, but will push member states to take action against such practices, it said on Wednesday.

So-called conversion “therapies” involve methods that seek to change the sexual orientation or gender identity or expression of members of gay, lesbian, queer and trans people.

The EU stopped short of heeding a call by over a million people, who signed a petition last May calling on the 27-country bloc to prohibit such methods.

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Conversion practices “have no place in our union”, said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, which flew the LGBTQ flag outside its headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the start of the weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners in Brussels on Wednesday. Photo: EPA
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the start of the weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners in Brussels on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

Instead, the EU executive said it would issue a recommendation next year for member states to adopt national-level bans.

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