Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s been criticised internationally as being based on bad science and medicine and has copped criticism for being harmful to the mental health of the people who undergo it. This has led many countries and states to implement bans.
With Parliament returning from the summer break this month for its first sitting block of 2020, campaigners are calling on the Government to put the ban at the top of the legislative agenda. February is also Pride Month in New Zealand, when a light is shone on LGBT political issues.