Victoria thumbs down gay conversion therapy, to create Health Complaints Commissioner office

Australia’s Victoria State would appoint soon a Health Complaints Commissioner who would have specific powers to run after unregistered gay conversion therapists who claim they can “cure” homosexuality but fail to prove the offer. The state government would introduce in the later part of 2016 legislation to create the office.

Skynews reports that the crackdown on gay conversion therapists, who also abound in other countries such as China, is part of Victoria’s zero tolerance for people who claim to be able to convert homosexuals using medical or therapeutic methods, says Jill Hennessy, health minister of the state. The planned bill would seek to correct current laws that specifies only investigation of practitioners but lacks penalties on so-called therapists who are not qualified.

The proposed commissioner would have the power to ban the conversion therapists from providing treatment that could place at risk the physical and psychological health of LGBT members. The strong emphasis on not risking the health of gay Victorians is borne out of the strong position of the state that “Any attempts to make people feel uncomfortable with their own sexuality is completely unacceptable,” states Hennessy.

Victoria’s LGBT community are fortunate that the state government aims to provide more protection to its members against these conversion therapists. In China, according to a BBC documentary aired in July 2015, therapists use electric shock.

Many victims of the electric shock therapy are forced by their parents to undergo the treatment because of the desire of the parents to have a grandchild. A gay son would mean zero grandchild and stop of the family tree because of China’s one-child policy, changed to two-child policy in January 2016.

The Chinese Psychiatric Association had delisted way back in 2001 homosexuality from its roster of mental ailments, while the courts have banned the therapies and considers the electric shock treatment inhuman. But what gay Chinese are against is the Chinese culture which favours sons who continue the family line with another son.

Meanwhile, for a Japanese anime game, "Fire Emblem," gay conversion happens by using a magic potion on Soleil, a lesbian soldier. The potion, secretly added to her drink, made Soleil see male opponent warriors as female, which causes her to fall in love with a “female” warrior. But when the potion wears off, Soleil still loves the male protagonist even if she sees him already as a man, which implies the therapy worked.

However, in anticipation of western audience objecting to the use of gay conversion therapy, even on anime, Nintendo, producer of the game, cut the scene from the English release but retains it for its Japanese audience, reports Rocketnews.