On March 9, the Federal Government introduced amendments to the Criminal Code to ban so-called conversion therapy as applied to gender identity and sexual orientation.
In Bill C-8, conversion therapy is defined broadly as ‘a practice, treatment or service designed to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cis-gender, or to repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour.’
The legislation says conversion therapy does not include a practice, treatment or service that relates: a) to a person’s gender transition; or b) to a person’s exploration of their identity or to its development. This means that providing services to someone with the aim of helping them change gender is not conversion therapy.
However, providing services with the aim of helping someone return to the sex of their birth, or become straight, is conversion therapy.
In accompanying documents, the Justice Department said the legislation would not criminalise private conversations in which personal views on sexual orientation, sexual feelings or gender identity are expressed e.g. with a teacher, parent, faith leader, or mental health professional.
However, these qualifiers (private, personal, open-ended, exploratory) are not included in the legislation itself. This raises questions about whether a sermon series or a youth Bible study or other programmes on sexual ethics offered to those wanting to order their sexual lives in accordance with their religious conscience would be construed to fit the definition of a practice, treatment or service.
