France moves toward ban on so-called gay conversion therapy

PARIS (AP) — French lawmakers have unanimously backed proposed legislation that would ban so-called LGBT conversion therapy. Parliament’s lower house voted 115-0 on Tuesday night for the draft law proposed by members of President Emmanuel Macron’s party. The text now goes to the upper house for debate. It authorizes jail time and fines for practitioners who use scientifically discredited practices to attempt to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ people. The legislation has the French government’s endorsement. The country’s health minister called such therapies deplorable and tweeted with a French hashtag that translates in English as “Nothing to Cure.”