Gay man wins conversion therapy case
Print Edition
A GAY man in central China has successfully sued a mental hospital over forced conversion therapy.
A court in Zhumadian in Henan Province ordered a city mental hospital to publish a public apology in local newspapers and pay the 38-year-old 5,000 yuan (US$735) compensation, according to a copy of the June 26 judgment.
The man, surnamed Yu, had been forcibly admitted to the institution in 2015 by his wife and relatives and diagnosed with “sexual preference disorder,” court documents show.
He was forced to take medicine and receive injections before finally walking free after 19 days.
The court did not weigh in on the practice of gay conversion therapy or account for Yu’s sexual orientation. The court said forcing Yu into a mental institution if he did not pose a danger to himself or others amounted to “infringing on the plaintiff’s right to individual freedom.”
China removed homosexuality from its list of recognized mental illnesses more than 15 years ago but stories are rife of families admitting relatives for conversion therapy.
People promoting gay rights say the case marks the first victory against a public mental institution for compulsory therapy against a patient’s will.
In 2014, a Beijing man named Peng Yanhui checked himself into a private conversion clinic to investigate its advertised electroshock treatments. Peng, a gay rights activist who goes by Yanzi, then sued the clinic and won a US$500 decision from a Beijing court for the suffering he endured in treatment.
The ruling in Zhumadian “confirmed the illegality of forced treatments,” Peng told reporters.
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