Only three days left to participate: European citizens urged to support an initiative to ban conversion therapy targeting LGBTQI+ people

"We call on the European Commission to propose a binding legal ban on conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ citizens in the European Union: 'Conversion practices' means interventions aimed at changing, repressing or eradicating the sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression of LGBTQI+ people ."

These are the terms used by the authors of the initiative (found here) to explain their approach. "These practices have been described as torture by the United Nations and are now prohibited in an ever-increasing number of states," they add.

They can take the form of interviews, training courses, exorcism, electroshock treatments or even hormone injections, as detailed on the Toute l'Europe website.

Until May 17 to support

To succeed, this European Citizens' Initiative must collect one million statements of support and reach minimum thresholds in at least seven countries. At the time of writing, more than 508,000 people have already signed.

The deadline for its completion is May 17, three days from now .

"The Commission should propose a directive adding conversion practices to the list of 'eurocrimes' and/or amend the current Equality Directive (2008) to include a ban on these practices," proposes the initiative, which also wants the Commission to implement a resolution calling for " a general ban on conversion practices in the EU ."