Baja California punishes conversion therapies with jail

Mexicali.- The Congress of Baja California has banned sexual conversion therapies, establishing penalties of up to 6 years in prison and fines of up to 2 thousand times of medical unit to anyone who forces a person to undergo or apply one of these “treatments” against someone from the LGBT + community. With 20 votes in favor, four against and zero abstentions, the Plenary of the State Congress approved the opinion number 2 of the Commission for Gender Equality and Youth on initiatives to reform various ordinances of Baja California, in terms of prohibition of conversion therapies. The initiative launched by the deputies of Morena, Evelyn Sánchez Sánchez and Julia Andrea González Quiroz, establishes sanctions of 2 to 6 years in prison and fines of 500 to 2 thousand times the unit of measurement, to whoever performs, imparts, applies, forces any type of treatment, therapy or practice that hinders, prevents, restricts, undermines or suppresses identity, a person’s sexual orientation or gender orientation. Read more: Ukrainian asylum flows from Mexico to the US, but not for othersThis means that anyone who forces a person from the LGBT+ community to undergo a “therapy” with the aim of modifying their sexual orientation, will be incurring a crime that will merit the sanctions approved by the Congress of Baja California.La Moreno Evelyn Sánchez explained that conversion therapies are comparable to the crimes of torture. In contrast, PAN deputies Amintha Briceño Cinco and Alejandrina Corral Quintero voted against the initiative, as well as Diego Echeverría and the non-party deputy, Miguel Peña.Alejandrina Corral, who is also coordinator of the PAN caucus in Congress, considered that the proposal is “unnecessary”, since she maintains that these crimes were already punished as illegal deprivation of liberty. The proposal is unnecessary, given that such criminal cases are already provided for in other legal precepts, with their corresponding penalty, “said the PAN member. Read more: Advances immunity against Cuauhtémoc Blanco; Congress of Morelos begins impeachment processWhile the deputy of the Solidarity Encounter Party (PES), Montserrat Rodríguez, pronounced in favor of establishing sanctions against this type of “therapies”, given the serious consequences they cause in the emotional and physical health of the victims. As a doctor, I emphasize that there is no medical justification for the realization of these therapies; on the contrary, they affect the physical, mental health and well-being of people, in addition to violating human rights,” said the legislator. LGBTTIQ+ Community Celebrates Marriage Equality in Jalisco

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