Efforts to Change Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or ECOSIG, also called “conversion therapies,” are known as those interventions or practices that seek to modify a person’s sexual orientation and gender expression. The nature of these interventions can be very broad and can include psychotherapeutic and medical approaches that have resulted in long-lasting psychological and physical harm. Approaches by some religious groups have also been recorded with methods that include humiliating, degrading, and violent treatment of people subjected to such treatments.
To ensure full protection against harmful practices in this context, the regulatory framework at the international, regional, and various national legal systems, have adopted measures that make possible the safeguarding of the fundamental rights and freedoms of LGBTQ people.
However, in this process, some attempts at religious counseling and/or spiritual advice have been equated with harmful religious approaches; and religious beliefs are presented as prejudiced, disqualifying, and violent per se. In Latin America we can mention the Mexican and Colombian cases:
In 2019, in the Contributions of the Mexican State to the Report of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, with special attention to practices called “conversion therapies”, the government recognized the term ECOSIG as those supposed psychotherapeutic or faith-based treatments that, as their name indicates, seek to modify the sexual orientation or gender identity of people, and/or that, among other things, are also promoted by religious and personal growth groups as well as by support groups.
On March 22, in Mexico, the Chamber of Deputies approved reforms to the Federal Penal Code and General Health Law to classify and penalize conversion therapies in the country. The text of the project states that two to six years in prison and a fine will be imposed on anyone who carries out, imparts, applies, forces, or finances any type of treatment, therapy, service, or practice that hinders, restricts, prevents, undermines, nullifies or suppresses a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. The penalty will be doubled when the classified conduct is carried out against people under 18 years of age. And that, if it is the father, mother, or guardian of the victim who engages in the sanctioned conduct, the sanctions of reprimand or warning will be applied to them at the discretion of the judge. The sanctions will be increased to double when the perpetrator has any relationship of subordination with the victim and when the perpetrator uses physical, psychological, or moral violence against the victim. The opinion must be forwarded to the Senate of the Republic for full approval.
On March 20, in Colombia, in a second debate in the House of Representatives, the bill that seeks to prohibit ECOSIG was approved. Among the texts of the original proposal, reference is made to these practices as all behavioral, psychoanalytic, medical, religious, and spiritual means and techniques that violate human dignity and whose purpose is to correct or reverse sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression of a person, unless the interventions reaffirm a person’s self-perceived gender identity, do not violate human dignity, and are with their free and informed consent. Debates are needed in the Senate of the Republic for the project to be completely approved.
Although the doctrine of many religious groups regarding sexuality is not compatible with the postulates of LGBTQ groups, nor is it compatible with the position of academic, political, and social trends related to the contents behind sexual diversity; the generalization and ambiguity in the wording of this type of laws could lead to understanding any type of opinion or advice regarding the circumstance of sexual orientation, especially that which comes from the religious sector, as intrusive and violating human rights, even when these interventions are not violent or discriminatory, and/or can be requested voluntarily. In turn, this could mean that those who wish to practice their sexual lives under their religious conscience would not be free to do so.
At OLIRE we call to stop abusive practices against the LGBTQ community, by doing so, we will advance in the protection of human rights and the construction of a democratic society. However, in the name of this effort, we cannot ignore the rights and freedoms of the religious sector, nor present the dogmas of the various religious confessions, or the manifestation of said beliefs as an imminent danger that negatively impacts society. But, above all, criminalizing and/or sanctioning religious expression, teaching, beliefs, and practices around sexuality, without a specific evaluation per case, may lead to non-compliance with international obligations regarding human rights, in particular the right to religious freedom and other interdependent rights, such as the right to freedom of expression or the right of parents to choose the education of their children.
