Germany has become only the third European country to ban homosexual treatment. What is the situation elsewhere in Europe?
At the outset, it is worth saying that Germany is not the first European country where this unscientific method has been banned. The first country to pass a ban was Malta at the end of 2016. That same year, Switzerland adopted similar laws. Both countries consider conversion therapy to be an unproven and ineffective treatment that causes more harm than it could ever repair. The precedent in Switzerland was set last year by the case of a homeopath who promised to cure homosexuality and was fired from a Geneva clinic for it. However, he was not prosecuted. According to the court, it is not enough to believe that homosexuality is a disease; the homeopath would have to actively cause harm.
According to historian Jan Seidl and his interview with Aktuálně, the Czech Republic has long been a superpower when it comes to treating homosexuality. In our country it has long been associated with the name of psychologist Kurt Freund. He was a very important figure in research on homosexuality and its manifestations. For example, he was the first to use penile plethysmography, a method of detecting the flow of blood to the penis during various stimuli, to detect homosexuality. He was also the author of a study that looked at the sexuality of identical twins. Freund laid the foundation for the recognition of the genetic origins of homosexuality with his finding that identical twins almost always have the same sexual orientation.
Until the 1950s, Freund was also a proponent of aversion therapy to re-educate homosexuals to heterosexuality, but he soon discovered its ineffectiveness. It was his method of plethysmography that showed that even homosexuals who married after his treatment continued to be more aroused by images of men than women.
Although the golden age of homosexuality treatment ended in the 1950s, that doesn't mean that it doesn't continue to occasionally pop its horns in this country. The last major controversy involved the book Therapy of Homosexuality, which was published in 2003, and the Pro-Life Movement, an organization fighting, among other things, against a woman's right to an abortion, had it sent to every school and high school.
The book, by Dutch psychologist Gerard van den Aardweg, built on long-overtaken theories of homosexuality as a sexual disorder arising from self-pity. In addition to psychotherapy, Aarwdweg recommends manly manual work, such as that with a hammer, saw or shovel. He also considers the refusal of alcohol to be unmanly. Needless to say, neither sexologists nor psychologists have left a dry thread on the book or the methods proposed by Aardwdt.
A country where homosexuality treatment still thrives today is heavily Catholic Poland. There are still Catholic clinics, such as Odwaga in Lublin, where conversion therapy is offered. Its operators reportedly boast a success rate of up to 30%. Some gays and lesbians are still subjected to exorcisms, or exorcisms of the devil, in Poland. In addition to homosexuals, various mentally ill people, as well as atheists, are also subjected to it.
There is currently talk of banning any 'treatment of homosexuality' in Britain and some states in the USA. Here, even 18 states have already banned it. The 'ex-gay' movement is fairly well represented here, but at the same time it is associated with all sorts of scandals. Be it cruel methods of re-education, going as far as electric shocks, or the 'yo-yo effect', where the biggest slice is paid. The louder someone speaks about their heterosexuality and family values, the more likely they are to be caught in the company of underage prostitutes with a bag of cocaine.
For example, David Matheson, who himself led reparative therapy in the Mormon community, and Michael Bussee, who long led the largest organization of "ex-gays," Exodus International, have recently come out as homosexual.
Although reparative therapy is not nearly as widespread in Europe as in the US, it is rarely illegal. However, this is set to change, given the knowledge and experience of both researchers and the 'treated'.
