Mexico City Outlaws LGBTQ+ Conversion Therapy

Mexico City’s regional congress passed a bill which outlaws gay conversion therapy on Friday, July 24. This makes the capital city the first municipality in Mexico to do so, marking a major victory for the country’s LGBTQ+ community.

Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change or alter an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. The practice has been criticized for treating LGBTQ+ identities as mental illnesses and for leading those who undergo the therapy to be at a heightened risk for depression, suicide, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases and the use of illicit drugs.

The new law, which imposes up to five years’ imprisonment for conversion therapy providers, was passed during one of the regional body’s virtual sessions. The law also states that higher punishments will be given to providers who attempt to impose the practice on minors.

In an interview with online magazine Them, activist Enrique Torre Molina spoke on the importance of the law’s passage in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality in Mexico.

“Over the past few years I've come to know many — too many — stories of LGBTQ+ people who survived ‘conversion therapy’ and torture, or who have stepped away from their families who believed they could and should ‘change,’” Torre said. “It's exciting to witness this historic win. Our community deserves love and respect.”

President of Mexico City’s Human Rights Commission Nashieli Ramírez echoed Torre’s sentiments in an interview with El Universal.

“These practices are equivalent to torture,” Ramírez said in Spanish. “We’re saying that these practices are generally done to minors without a valid principle, because homosexuality and transgender identities are not diseases.”

This latest law is not the first time Mexico City has pushed the country toward greater LGBTQ+ inclusivity. On March 13, 2004, the city amended its civil code to allow for transgender citizens to change their name and sex on their birth certificates. Likewise, the city became the first Latin American municipality to legalize same-sex marriage on December 21, 2009.

Activists around the world have increasingly pushed for the ban of LGBTQ+ conversion therapy over the past decade. Manvendra Singh Gohil, an openly gay Indian prince, has been a vocal proponent for India to outlaw the practice.

“I was myself a victim of conversion therapy,” Gohil said in an interview with Forbes. “When I came out, the first thing [my parents] tried to do was convert me. They wouldn’t accept me as a gay child.”

The United Nations called for a universal ban on the practice in June. However, only five countries as of this article’s publication outlaw the practice, with Germany joining Malta, Ecuador, Brazil and Taiwan in doing so in May. In the United States, 20 states and a number of municipalities have outlawed the practice, although support for such a measure at the federal level has been mixed.

The Mexico City law went into effect on July 31 and could serve as a precedent for future laws to be passed within other Mexican states and jurisdictions.

Jacob

Sutherland

is a recent graduate from the University of California San Diego where he majored in Political Science and minored in Spanish Language Studies. He previously served as the News Editor for The UCSD Guardian, and hopes to shed light on social justice issues in his work.

Palestine Launches Global Mental Health Network

Palestinian health workers started a network to help Palestinians with emotional well-being, as they have among the highest rates for anxiety and depression due to the ongoing conflict with Israel.

The Palestinian people have exceedingly high rates for anxiety and depression. Health professionals recently began a network to help combat these disorders. Hasty Words. CC0.

Palestinian health workers recently launched the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network, in order to assist with their people’s emotional well-being and assert their professional stance. 

Palestinian people have among the highest rates for anxiety and depression, in large part due to the continuous strife between Israel and Palestine. Unexpected raids in the middle of the night, checkpoints, teargas, and jailed young children all contribute to a profound sense of hopelessness and despair. For example, young men who seek out mental health services often explain that they think of looking for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to create a confrontation in the potential hope that they’ll be killed, according to Mondoweiss. Suicidal ideation, depression, trauma, and anxiety are undoubtedly high conditions in most people. 

This network was partially launched because of a meeting held in Tel Aviv toward the end of June for the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. The location was impossible to get to for Palestinian professionals who wished to attend, due to restriction of movement. Last year, a petition was circulated by the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network, with support from the Jewish Voice for Peace and UK-Palestine Mental Health Network, asking that the location be changed, but the petition was not answered. 

The launch for the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network was held at the Palestinian Red Crescent’s headquarters in al-Bireh. The Palestine Red Crescent Society is involved in health care in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It collaborated with the Palestinian Social and Psychological Syndicate and the Arab Psychological Association as well. 

Over 150 Palestinian health professionals attended from various cities, including Gaza, Haifa, Ramleh, and Jerusalem, among others. UK and U.S.-based Palestinian professionals joined through video-conferencing. The network plans to assist Palestinian people, regardless of geographic location, and promote mental health, social justice, and human dignity among people in general, and Palestinians in particular. A major goal is to augment Palestinian resistance to violence. More generally, this network will cooperate with others in the U.S., the UK, and Belgium to strengthen their programs and establish similar organizations.

The speeches addressed specific topics, as well as general thoughts on why an organization like this is necessary. In the closing session, a task force was created that would organize a paper explaining the network’s opening strategies and general framework. A separate committee was commissioned to carry out projects and plans agreed upon at the conference.

Another branch for the same organization also recently begun in Belgium. Their overall goal is also to make known the effects of occupation on the mental health of the Palestinian people. Activities include conferences, panels, and trips for international co-workers to visit Palestine and meet with other professionals, among others, according to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. The networks in Belgium, the U.S., and the UK generally work independently, but occasionally collaborate on ideas, strategies, and campaigns.

Mental health workers have an important role to play in the continuing struggle between Israel and Palestine, and these collaborating networks show that they intend to assist as best they can.

NOEMI ARELLANO-SUMMER is a journalist and writer living in Boston, MA. She is a voracious reader and has a fondness for history and art. She is currently at work on her first novel and wants to eventually take a trip across Europe.