Hong Kong’s LGBTI youth still at risk as authorities ignore international calls to ban ‘conversion therapy’
City’s social workers are unofficially recommending controversial method to vulnerable lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex teenagers in an effort to make them heterosexual, according to local charities
The Hong Kong government is continuing to put the lives of young LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex) people at risk by failing to condemn or outlaw so-called “conversion therapy”, gay rights campaigners have claimed.
The city has been accused of lagging behind the international community in its approach to the controversial practice, which involves LGBTI people undergoing counselling sessions and being subjected to non-medical treatments in a bid to make them heterosexual.
The therapy advocates that participants regularly pray, abstain from same-sex physical relationships and take cold showers in a bid to control their homosexual urges. Some of the more aggressive strategies include giving participants electric shocks.
The therapy has been widely criticised by medical councils worldwide and found to have potentially damaging psychological effects.
The Hong Kong government refused to ban the practice in 2010 despite campaigners presenting extensive evidence to the Legislative Council detailing its dangerous effects.
Some of the city’s social workers are still continuing to advise vulnerable sexual minorities to try such therapy, suggesting it could help them “correct” their sexuality and lead a happier life, according to local charities.