The European Union’s executive arm will formally ask member states to outlaw conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Wednesday.
“Conversion practices have no place in our Union,” von der Leyen said. The proposal, long promised since she took office in 2019, intensifies the bloc’s efforts to protect LGBTQ+ citizens.
The Commission’s move was driven by a petition signed by more than one million EU citizens demanding “a binding legal ban on conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ citizens in the European Union.” The petition’s delivery comes days before the 30th annual Brussels Pride parade, set for Saturday, May 16, where tens of thousands are expected to march through the institutional heart of the EU.
According to the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights, one in four LGBTQ+ citizens surveyed in 2024 reported having been subjected to conversion practices. The highest rates were recorded in Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Slovakia. Yet only 10 of the 27 EU nations currently ban the practice fully or partially, according to data from ILGA-Europe.
Malta became the first EU nation to outlaw attempts to change sexual orientation in 2016. France later followed, making the practice punishable by jail time and fines. Despite those early moves, the practice persists across much of the bloc.
“Conversion practices are built on a lie — the lie that LGBTQ+ people need to be fixed, that there is something wrong with who they are,” said Hadja Lahbib, the EU commissioner for equality. “You cannot torture away a person’s identity, and you cannot legislate it away. And yet these practices continue, unfortunately.”
The Brussels Pride parade, held annually since 1996, will take place Saturday in the Belgian capital, home to the EU’s main institutions. Organizers expect the 30th edition of the event to draw tens of thousands of participants celebrating LGBTQ+ rights and culture.