Bill outlawing gay conversion postponed by a month
The legislation would remove the license of a psychologist who uses conversion therapy, fine them and send them to jail for repeat offenses.
By GIL HOFFMAN, JERUSALEM POST STAFFLGBT flag on Jerusalem's King George Street, July 31, 2018(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation decided on Sunday to postpone for a month a bill that would make therapy intended to convert members of the LGBTQ community illegal.The legislation would remove the license of a psychologist who uses conversion therapy, fine them and send them to jail for repeat offenses.The bill was proposed by Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz, who is one of six current gay MKs, along with ministers Amir Ohana (Likud), Itzik Shmuli (Labor), Blue and White MK Eitan Ginzburg and Yesh Atid MKs Idan Roll and Yorai Lahav Hertzanu.The committee voted against a bill proposed by Yesh Atid faction chairman Meir Cohen that would have provided unemployment benefits to the self-employed.Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai tweeted on Sunday that “the year is 2020 and in Israel, members of the LGBT community still can not enjoy the basic right to wed.”Huldai went on to say that in honor of pride week the city of Tel Aviv will allow all couples, gay and not gay, to register as a couple in a relationship for the purpose of registering children for schools or getting a civic center discount based on an affidavit, as opposed to a marriage certificate or by presenting their ID. “We decided to challenge the government,” he said.In Israel, gay marriages as well as marriages between members of different religious groups such as Jews and Muslims and Christians are not legally possible.Israelis who wish to marry members of their own sex, or members of another faith, must marry outside the country and then have the marriage recognized by the Israeli authorities.Conversation therapy is alleged to be a method by which people who are sexually attracted to their own sex can change their orientation and be attracted to the opposite sex. Former Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz said that he thinks such methods work and that he has “firsthand experience that they do.”
