New Zealand’s parlia-ment on February 15 near- unanimously passed a legislation that bans practices intended to forcibly change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, known as conversion therapy.
The bill, which was introduced by the government last year, passed with 112 votes in favour and eight votes opposed.
“This is a great day for New Zealand’s rainbow communities,” Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi said.
“Conversion practices have no place in modern New Zealand.” The government has said practices such as conversion therapy do not work, are widely discredited and cause harm.
The legislation also lays out what is not con-version practice and protects the right to express opinion, belief, religious belief or principle which is not intended to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. The government said it had received nearly 107,000 public submissions on the bill, the highest number of public submissions ever received on any legislation. Under the legislation, it will be an offense to perform conversion practices on a child or young person aged under 18, or on someone with impaired decision-making capacity. Such offenses would be subject to up to three years imprisonment.