A gay man in China has successfully sued a mental hospital after he was forced to undergo “conversion therapy”.
The man, known as Mr Yu, was forced to go to the institution by his wife and family where he was treated for “sexual preference disorder”.
According to the Associated Press news agency, Mr Yu was held in the hospital for 19 days and was made to take medicine and given injections.
On June 26, a court in the Henan province ordered the hospital to publish an apology in a local paper and pay the 38-year-old the equivalent of £569.
The ruling did not cast a verdict on the process of “conversion therapy” or consider Mr Yu’s homosexuality but instead concluded that forcing someone who did not pose a threat into a mental institution “infringed on his right to individual freedom”.
But LGBT activists in China nevertheless hailed the decision as being landmark case against mental institutions who use compulsory therapy.
Being gay was listed as a mental illness in China until 2001 but many people still hide their sexuality due to pressure to enter into a heterosexual marriage and have a child.
In 2016, the BBC reported that a mental health textbook for higher education compared being gay to paedophilia and bestiality.
It suggests possible “cures” which include “repulsion therapy” – where the person endures forced vomiting or fear of electrocution every time they have sexual desire for someone of the same sex.
Peng Yanhui, a gay rights activist who also sued a private “conversion clinic” in 2014, said the recent rulings “confirmed the illegality of forced treatments”.
He told the AP. "It's time for China to enact laws to prohibit forced gay conversion therapy."
