Genspect

Today, the European Commission adopted a Communication responding to the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) ‘Ban on conversion practices in the European Union'. We were relieved that the Commission stopped short of pursuing an EU-wide ban and will not seek to add conversion practices to the list of EU crimes under Article 83(1) TFEU. However, it plans to issue a non-binding recommendation next year urging states to introduce bans on so-called conversion practices, while continuing to mobilise its enormous resources and soft-power machinery to pressure governments into adopting such legislation. Gender identity has thoroughly captured the EU. The range of actions announced today is aimed at consolidating far-reaching regimes in some Member States, nudging reluctant ones off the fence, and laying the groundwork for the next political turn in resistant states and EU candidate countries. Broad opposition is growing across Europe, led by feminists, lesbian and gay rights organisations, parent groups, and an increasing number of clinicians and therapists raising concerns about the risks involved. Yet these voices are systematically excluded from the EU’s internal discussions. Bans on so-called “conversion practices” are deceptively framed. They invoke the brutal abuse once inflicted on lesbians and gay men, while applying that historical imagery to something fundamentally different. Framed around gender identity and expression, these bans risk harming the very people they claim to protect - particularly gender non-conforming children who may simply grow up to be lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Such bans entrench the unscientific belief that some children are “born in the wrong body” and should be placed on a path toward irreversible medicalisation. In practice, they make affirmation of a child’s self-declared gender identity a legal requirement not only for therapists, but for teachers, doctors, and even families. Making affirmation the only permissible approach to a child’s self declared gender identity is not protection. Young people struggling with their sex require open, exploratory and therapeutic support; their families deserve evidence-based care; and society needs honesty and clarity.