The European Commission will not introduce an EU-wide ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy’, despite bloc-wide calls from citizens to outlaw the harmful practices. The Commission said the responsibility to ban the practice lies with member states, urging them to adopt legislation.

On May 13, the European Commission announced that it intends to adopt a Recommendation where it commits to support member states in their efforts to ban conversion therapy practices against LGBTQ+ people.

Through this action, “the Commission will recognise the critical role that Member States play in this area and focus on supporting them in banning conversion practices, encouraging national action to extend the legal ban across the EU,” an official communication stated.

President Ursula von der Leyen said that conversion practices have “no place in our Union”. She added, “The EU proudly stands with the LGBTIQ+ community and reaffirms its vision of a Union of Equality, a place where everyone can live freely, openly and authentically.”

The announcement was made in response to a citizens’ initiative calling for a binding legal ban on conversion therapy. Launched in 2023, the campaign had gathered over 1.2 million signatures from EU citizens and was backed by more than 300 NGOs across the bloc.

The initiative, which called for all interventions aimed at “changing, repressing or suppressing the sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression of LGBTQ+ persons” to be outlawed, was also supported by the European Parliament, which voted in favour of an EU-wide ban on April 29.

However, the Commission fell short of introducing the ban. Speaking to reporters after the announcement of the Recommendation, Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said, “The responsibility lies mostly at the level of the member states, and if we wanted to adopt a binding legislation, unanimity would have been necessary.”

 

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The European Association Against Conversion Therapy (ACT), which launched the campaign calling for the ban, condemned the Commission’s failure to adopt binding legislation.

“While it is appreciated that the European Commission condemns and calls for a ban on these practices, this falls short of the urgency required,” the group stated.

“We will continue to fight to put an end to these practices, this time at both national and European levels, and we hope that the Commissioner will honour her commitments to carry this mandate to each member state.

“Today, the LGBTl+ flag was raised in front of the European Commission. We now demand that this symbolic gesture give rise to an effective and concrete timeline alongside the recommendations.”