A judge in Brazil has officially approved gay conversion therapy to tackle the ‘disease’ of homosexuality which is representative of the societal shift toward conservatism within the country.

Gay conversion therapy was banned in Brazil in 1999, however, a recent case brought by former psychologist Rosangela Justino has overturned this ruling.

Justino, an Evangelical Christian, was stripped of her license to practice last year after advising patients to seek a “cure” to their homosexuality through religion.

However, the anti-gay psychologist took to the courts to challenge the decision to revoke her license, with the federal judge ruling in her favour.

Justino told a newspaper in 2009 that she feels “directed by God to help people who are homosexual,” reports GSN.

Backlash

The judge’s decision has not been without repudiation, with a progressive  musician declaring that authorities are “wasting their time” denoting homosexuality as an illness.

“That’s what happens in my country,” singer Larissa Machado said. “People dying, hungry, the government killing the country with corruption, no education, no hospitals, no opportunities […] And the authorities are wasting their time to announce that homosexuality is a sickness.”

David Miranda, an out, gay councillor in Rio de Janeiro, told The Guardian: “This decision is a big regression to the progressive conquests that the LGBT community had in recent decades.

Brazilian judge approves 'gay conversion therapy', sparking national outrage https://t.co/Ggnq4B7hz2 #LGBT #curagay #gaycure pic.twitter.com/ZSRmTrBWIG

— Alfonso Pezzella (@AlfPezzella) September 19, 2017

“Like various countries in the world, Brazil is suffering a conservative wave.”

The Federal Council of Psychology indicated that this ruling “opens the dangerous possibility of the use of sexual reversion therapies” in Brazil.

The Council intends to fight the judge’s decision and have it overruled. President of The Federal Council of Psychology, Rogério Giannini, is confident that they will be successful in doing so.

“There is no way to cure what is not a disease,” Giannini said, echoing the widely held belief by psychologists across the world that homosexuality is an innate and immutable facet of one’s character.

“It is not a serious, academic debate, it is a debate connected to religious or conservative positions,” he said.