Legality of conversion therapy

Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. As of April 2024, twenty-eight countries have bans on conversion therapy, fourteen of them ban the practice by any person: Belgium,^[1] Canada, Cyprus, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal and Norway; Eight ban its practice by medical professionals only; Albania, Brazil, Chile, India, Italy, Israel, Vietnam and Taiwan; another seven: Argentina, Fiji, Nauru, Paraguay, Samoa, Switzerland, and Uruguay have indirect bans in that diagnoses based solely on sexual orientation or gender identity are banned 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, some jurisdictions within Australia and the United States also ban conversion therapy. In China and South Africa case law has found conversion therapy to be unlawful.^[2][3] Bills banning conversion therapy are being considered in Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.^[2]