Canada bans conversion therapy, telling LGBTQ residents 'we'll always stand up for you'

Conversion therapy, treatments that claim to be able to change a person's sexual orientation or identity, has been officially banned in Canada as of Wednesday. 

The Canadian bill states that "providing, promoting, or advertising conversion therapy" is a criminal offense as is profiting off of the provision of the therapy.

It adds that conversion therapy is a harm to society because it promotes "the myth that heterosexuality, cisgender gender identity, and gender expression that conforms to the sex assigned to a person at birth are to be preferred over other sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised the decision the Royal Assent for confirming the bill and standing up for LGBTQ Canadians rights. The bill and its violations will go into effect 30 days from Wednesday, when the bill was received the Royal Assent on Wednesday.

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"It's official: Our government's legislation banning the despicable and degrading practice of conversion therapy has received Royal Assent -- meaning it is now law," he wrote on Twitter. "LGBTQ2 Canadians, we'll always stand up for you and your rights."

"LGBTQ2" is an acronym used by the Canadian government. The government's glossary of terminology states the "2" references a Two-Spirit, "a culturally-specific identity used by some Indigenous people to indicate a person whose gender identity, spiritual identity and/or sexual orientation comprises both male and female spirits."

'Impossible to ban':Conversion therapy for LGBTQ Americans continues despite legislative efforts

In the U.S., 20 states and more than 100 municipalities have banned the practice, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights' Born Perfect campaign against conversion therapy. 

In 2020, a federal appeals court, with a district that includes Alabama, Georgia and Florida, issued a ruling based on First Amendment that barred an injunction against conversion therapy.

However, about 700,000 adults in the U.S. have received conversion therapy, and 350,000 of them were adolescents, according to The Williams Institute School of Law at UCLA.

Follow Gabriela Miranda on Twitter: @itsgabbymiranda