LGBT China
The psychiatrist told my mom: 'Homosexuality is just like all the other mental diseases, like depression, anxiety, or bipolar. It can be cured.... Trust me, leave him here, he is in good hands.'
- Wen Qi (pseudonym), March 16, 2017
Homosexuality is neither a crime nor officially regarded as an illness in China. For decades, the legal status of consensual same-sex activity between men was ambiguous, but that was cleared up in the revised criminal code of 1997. In 2001, the Chinese Society of Psychiatry removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. This is consistent with the consensus of global medical associations that homosexuality is not a medical condition.

However, public hospitals and private clinics in China continue to offer so-called "conversion therapy," which aims to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual, based on the false assumption that homosexuality is a disorder that needs to be remedied. Despite a legal framework that requires that the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders comply with diagnostic standards and standards on the categorizations of mental disorders, Chinese authorities have not taken the necessary steps to stop public hospitals or private clinics from offering conversion therapy. The steps should include: issuing clear guidelines to all public and private hospitals and clinics indicating that conversion therapy contravenes existing law; closely monitoring medical facilities to determine whether conversion therapy is taking place; and, where it is, holding such facilities accountable, including by suspending the licenses of errant facilities or practitioners.

This report documents multiple abusive aspects of conversion therapy, including coercion and threats, physical abduction, arbitrary confinement, forced medication and injection, and use of electroshocks. It is based on interviews with 17 individuals who underwent conversion therapy under intense family and social pressure, as well as parents and rights activists.

All interviewees were emphatic about one thing: they would not have undergone conversion therapy were it not for family and social pressure. Some said their parents took them forcibly to hospitals for such therapy: Chinese society continues to strongly favor children who can pass on their family name. For individuals who are gay or lesbian, this creates intense family pressure to enter heterosexual marriages and have children. Despite all efforts, no one experienced any change to their sexual orientation.

Human Rights Watch found that, in most cases, conversion therapy took place in public hospitals, which are government-run and monitored. In a few cases, conversion therapy was conducted in privately owned psychiatric or psychological clinics, licensed and supervised by the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

map of china
Map of China
Governments are obligated to safeguard the fundamental human rights of individuals within their territory or jurisdiction. The abuses that occur in conversion therapy - including involuntary confinement; verbal harassment and intimidation; lack of informed consent in writing or orally; forced use of medicine; and forced psychiatric intervention - violate domestic and international standards, and the human rights of LGBT people. These include the right to non-discrimination, the right to freedom from arbitrary deprivation of liberty, the right to privacy, the right to health, the right to freedom from non-consensual medical treatment, and, in the case of some minors, the rights of the child. Use of electroshocks have arguably amounted to acts of torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment.

China does not have a law protecting individuals from discrimination due to sexual orientation or gender identity. While the Chinese Psychological Society has issued professional guideline that prohibit discrimination due to sexual orientation during psychology counseling practice, professional associations have not prevented medical practitioners from conducting conversion therapy. Other than two known successful lawsuits, in which a gay man sued for forced conversion therapy and another for false advertising, those who conduct conversion therapy have not been scrutinized or held accountable by professional associations or the law. There are inadequate options for members of the public to file complaints or seek remedies for medical or psychiatric practices that violate Chinese domestic law and international law.

Governments are obligated to safeguard the fundamental human rights of individuals within their territory or jurisdiction, including the right to liberty, the right to non-discrimination, the right to freedom from torture, the right to privacy, the right to health, and the rights of the child. Allowing the discriminatory practice of conversion therapy in public hospitals and state-licensed clinics is inconsistent with the Chinese government's obligations under its national law, and international law.

Chinese authorities should immediately take steps to ensure that its declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder is supported by meaningful protections. They should prohibit the forced admission of individuals without mental disease or disorder into psychiatric facilities, and establish disciplinary and accountability mechanisms to address abusive and unethical medical and psychiatric practices. Public and private health facilities should not be permitted to provide treatments that are ineffective, unethical, and harmful, including conversion therapy. As homosexuality is not an illness, there is no need for a cure.