Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. As of October 2026, twenty-eight countries have bans on conversion therapy. Fourteen of them ban the practice by any person: Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Ecuador, France, Germany, Iceland, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Spain.
Eight ban its practice by medical professionals (or, in some cases, those who receive monetary compensation without necessarily being medical experts) only: Albania, Brazil, Chile, Greece, India, Israel, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Another seven, namely Argentina, Fiji, Nauru, Paraguay, Samoa, Switzerland and Uruguay, have bans for diagnoses based solely on sexual orientation or gender identity, without specifically banning conversion therapy. This effectively amounts to a ban on health professionals since they would not generally engage in therapy without a diagnosis. In addition, jurisdictions within Australia and the United States also ban conversion therapy.
At a supranational level, the European Union is considering banning conversion therapy across its member states. Similarly, citizens' initiative started collecting signatures in May 2024 calling on the European Commission to outlaw such practices. On January 29, 2026, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution urging member states to ban conversion therapy.Queer.de: Europarat für Verbot von "Konversionstherapien", January 2026
Legal status by country
Country Medical treatment banned Criminal penalties Details Practice by medical professionals banned: Albania's national psychological association banned its members from practising conversion therapy in 2020. Diagnosis by medical professionals banned: Since 2010, no diagnosis can be made in the field of mental health on the exclusive basis of "sexual choice or identity". The ban only applies to registered health professionals. Banned explicitly in four states and one territory: Conversion therapy is an explicit criminal offense in
Queensland since 2020 under the Health Legislation Amendment Act 2020, the Australian Capital Territory since 2021 under the Sexuality and Gender Identity Conversion Practices Act 2020, Victoria since 2022 under the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021, South Australia since 1 April 2025 under the Conversion Practices Prohibition Act 2024 New South Wales since 4 April 2025 under the Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024. However Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania have not introduced any bills to criminally ban conversion therapy yet.Nationwide ban proposed: In July 2022, the Justice Ministry confirmed it was preparing a draft bill to ban conversion therapy, following unanimous motions of the National Council calling on it to do so. Nationwide ban: On 20 July 2023, Parliament approved a law that bans conversion practices, defined as "any practice consisting of or including physical intervention or the application of psychological pressure, which the perpetrator or victim believes or claims is intended to repress or to alter a person's sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, whether that characteristic is actually present or merely assumed by the perpetrator." Punishment ranges from imprisonment of 8 days to 2 years and/or a fine of 208 to 2400 euros, and a professional ban up to 5 years. Practice by medical professionals banned: The Comprehensive Care Standard for the LGBTIQ+ population in health facilities, issued by the Ministry of Health and Sports in 2022, bans conversion therapy. Section 10.2 on Specific Recommendations to be taken into account states that "Guidance should be given on the danger of resorting to "reconversion and reparative therapies" that have no scientific basis and can generate psychological consequences for the person. Remember that such therapies are prohibited." Section 12.3 on Specific Recommendations for the Health Care Team states that "Reparative Therapy, which seeks to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, is inherently coercive and incompatible with health care." Practice by medical professionals banned: In 1999, the Federal Council of Psychology issued two provisions which state that "psychologists shall not collaborate in events or services offering treatment and cure for homosexuality", and that "psychologists will neither pronounce nor participate in public speeches, in the mass media, reinforcing social prejudice related to homosexuals as pursuing any kind of psychological disorder". Brazil thus became the first country in the world to ban conversion therapy. In 2013, the Commission for Human Rights of Brazil's lower house of Congress, headed by Marco Feliciano, an evangelical Christian preacher, approved legislation that would nullify the council's provisions and legalize conversion therapy. After strong public objection in the wave of the 2013 protests in Brazil, the bill was voted down by the National Congress.Psychiatrist Jairo Bouer talks about the "collateral effects" of "gay cure" bill Archived 15 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine (in Portuguese) In September 2017, a federal judge in Brasília approved the use of conversion therapy by a psychologist to "cure" people of homosexuality, overruling the 1999 decision. However, in December 2017, the same judge changed his decision, keeping the "treatment" banned. In January 2018, the Federal Psychology Council established norms of performance for psychologists in relation to transgender and transvestite people, also banning any conversion therapy. A criminal ban has been proposed in the Federal District, Brasilia. In October 2024, CFP established norms forbidding pathologization of intersex people. Nationwide ban: Conversion therapy is illegal for both adults and minors under the Criminal Code. The ban took effect on 7 January 2022, 30 days after Bill C-4 received royal assent. Prior to the federal prohibition, it was banned in the province of Manitoba (since 2015), for minors in Ontario (since 2015), for minors (though allowed for "mature minors" between the ages of 16 and 18 if they consent) in Nova Scotia (since 2018), for minors in Prince Edward Island (since 2020), in Quebec (since 2020), the territory of Yukon (since 2020), and numerous municipalities including Vancouver (since 2018), Edmonton (since 2019), and Calgary (since 2020).
On 23 September 2020. Bill C-6 was introduced by the government in the House of Commons, it would have prohibited performing conversion therapy on a child, forcing someone to undergo conversion therapy against their will, advertising or materially benefiting from conversion therapy, and removing a child from Canada to perform conversion therapy. On 22 June 2021, it passed the lower house (263 to 63), and was sent to the Senate. However the Senate failed to pass the bill after some senators objected to the government's request to recall the chamber from its summer recess, so that the bill may have been considered before Parliament was dissolved for an expected snap election. The election was called on 15 August and the bill died on the order paper.
On 29 November, the re-elected government introduced a new version of the bill (C-4) for the 44th Parliament, which broadened the ban's coverage to include adults, and identified it as one of its priority bills it hoped to pass before the end of the year. The bill passed the House of Commons on 1 December without a recorded vote after all parties unanimously agreed to expedite it, and likewise passed the Senate on 7 December. The bill received royal assent on 8 December 2021, and came into effect on 7 January 2022. Practice by medical professionals banned: In March 2023, the Ministry of Health issues Circular B2 No. 6 instructing all individual and institutional health providers, both public and private, the prohibition of the implementation of "conversion therapies" for not be valid clinical practices. It also recognizes that diagnoses of mental health status cannot be based on criteria biasedly related to sexual orientation or gender identity and gender expression.
Criminal ban proposed: Proposed criminal ban was approved by the Chilean Senate in 2021. The bill is currently being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies.
Diagnosis by medical professionals banned: Law 21.331 on the Recognition and Protection of the Rights of People in Mental Health Care, enacted on 23 April 2021, states in its article 7: "The diagnosis of the state of mental health must be established as dictated by the clinical technique, considering biopsychosocial variables. It cannot be based on criteria related to the political, socioeconomic, cultural, racial or religious group of the person, nor to the identity or sexual orientation of the person, among others."
In February 2016, the Chilean Ministry of Health expressed their opposition to conversion therapy. The statement said: "We consider that practices known as conversion therapies represent a grave threat to health and well-being, including the life, of the people who are affected." Case-by-case ban: In China, courts have ruled instances of conversion therapy to be illegal on two occasions; however, legal precedents in China are not enforceable in future cases. In December 2014, a Beijing court ruled in favor of a gay man in a case against a conversion therapy clinic. The court ruled that such treatments are illegal and ordered the clinic to apologize and pay monetary compensation. In June 2016, a man from Henan Province sued a hospital in the city of Zhumadian for forcing him to undergo conversion therapy, and was also awarded a public apology and compensation. Following these two successful rulings, LGBT groups are now calling on the Chinese Health Ministry to ban conversion therapy. However, , no measure has been taken by the government to ban conversion therapy, and such treatments are still in fact being actively promoted throughout the country.Nationwide ban proposed: In June 2023, Congress approved a bill to ban conversion therapy at first reading. Nationwide ban: In May 2023, the Cyprus Parliament passed a bill criminalizing conversion therapy. Nationwide ban: In Ecuador, the Government's view is that conversion therapy is proscribed by a 1999 law banning anti-gay discrimination. In addition, Article 151 of the 2014 Penal Code prohibits conversion therapy, equating it to torture, and provides 10 years' imprisonment for those practicing it.