Legislation on so-called “conversion therapy” that would outlaw some church ministries to people with same-sex attraction should proceed on an evidential basis.
Senator Ronan Mullen made the appeal in the Seanad on Thursday in response to a Private Members’ Bill by Sinn Fein Senator, Fintan Warfield.
Senator Mullen said “the highest value comes from what people want, provided it does not do harm”. He continued: “I do not know enough about it at this stage but if it can be demonstrated that this is harmful to people, there is a very good case to make it unlawful. If it cannot be shown to be harmful to people, we are back into the realm of individual choice.” He added that legislators “do not speak enough about the importance of an evidence base for proposals,” and recommended he and his colleagues should “look honestly at the current evidence”.
His remarks brought a critical response from an Assistant Professor in Gender Studies at UCD. Doctor Mary McAuliffe told breaking news.ie that the Senator’s remarks “implies that people who are LGBT have some sort of disorder that needs to be corrected rather than people who happen to be that way. I think that is a disturbing and dangerous route to go down.”
