WORLD WORLDWIDE COLOMBIA AllOut LGBTQ+ Homosexualité Gay News Journal Update - "conversion therapies"

 Hola,

I'm Andrés, Campaigner for LGBT+ rights with All Out, writing to you from Colombia.

Today, before my All Out colleagues write to you about the next steps in the fight against "conversion therapies" (also known as "gay cures") in Asia in the next days, I have very exciting updates for you about the fight in Latin America, specifically here in my country.

Last year, the Inconvertibles bill (which means "not convertibles" in English) was introduced in the Colombian Congress. If approved, this law will ban "conversion therapies" in Colombia.

But before Congress gets to vote on the bill, it needs to be approved by a commission of congress members.

But we know that many people – including members of said Commission – do not know what "conversion therapies" are and why they are so harmful for LGBT+ people.

That's why, in March, All Out teamed up with the organization Caribe Afirmativo and the Commission for Diversity of the Colombian Congress to host an event for the members of the Commission.

The goal was to brief them about why the Inconvertibles bill should be approved in order to protect LGBT+ people.

And it was pretty special to know that it wasn't just us who were there. By our side, there were more than 26,000 people who signed the petition asking that the Inconvertibles bill be approved into law.

We were joined by activists from Brazil, Peru and from different regions of Colombia.

We presented data from a survey we ran on "conversion therapies" here in Colombia.

We heard from a specialist with the organization OutRight International about the experiences combating these practices in Peru and other parts of Latin America.

We talked about the research report that All Out and Instituto Matizes carried out in Brazil on these practices and how it can help protect Colombian LGBT+ people as well.

And, we took questions from the participants of the event, and we explained why it is so crucial in helping protect LGBT+ people's safety, dignity, and freedom to be who they are and love who they love.

The fight for a ban of "conversion therapies" in Colombia is not over. Help us keep up the international pressure to push the Inconvertibles bill through the finish line.

Click here to sign and participate in the campaign, too!

Muchas gracias for going All Out,
Andrés, in Colombia

PS: And if you want to support All Out's work, so we can keep up the fight against "conversion therapies" in Colombia, Brazil, and many other parts of the world, join All Out's Equality Champions – the group of people who support our work with monthly donations! Click here to start!