Legality of conversion therapy
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. As of December 2023, twenty-eight countries have bans on conversion therapy. Thirteen of them ban the practice by any person: Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Ecuador, France, Germany, Iceland, Malta, Mexico, 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.