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Heart and Soul: Swiss Christians and conversion therapy

Swiss Christians and conversion therapy

16/06/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Swiss Christians and conversion therapy

Meet the Christians debating a ban on so-called Conversion Therapy in Switzerland.

We meet Swiss Christians whose lives were changed by so-called conversion therapy - those healing from the trauma of this controversial practice and those who still support it.

There’s a debate raging in Switzerland over a potential nationwide ban on so-called conversion therapy. We meet Christians whose lives the procedure has changed forever. They explain how growing up in an Evangelical community, they struggled with their faith and sexuality from a young age – driving them to seek help.

So-called conversion therapy has been around for centuries. The controversial practice is used around the world to try to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. In Switzerland, common methods include prayers and talking therapies but elsewhere practitioners use exorcisms, electroshock therapy and even physical and sexual violence. These so-called treatments are something that people of all genders undergo.

We meet the people still healing from the trauma of so-called conversion therapy in Switzerland. Having accepted themselves as gay Christians, they are now supporting others in the community and campaigning to change the law.

Psychologists say there’s no evidence so-called conversion therapy works, and warn that it can be harmful. But there are also Christians who defend the practice or who do not want to see it outlawed. We meet a man who says it has helped him with his sexuality. 

The issue has become a hot topic in in Switzerland, and the parliamentary process to potentially enact a nationwide ban is underway. But there is still a long way to go. Claire Jones meets the Christians working to change the law, and those who are against a legislative ban.

Presenter: Claire Jones
Producer: Rachel Briggs
Editor: Helen Grady
Production co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno

(Photo Credits: Adrian Steifel inside his church)

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