Despite the progress, archaic practice of conversion therapy is alive and well in Ireland - Kilkenny senator

Despite all the progress, Ireland still allows the incredibly cruel and archaic practice of so-called conversion therapy.

The name itself is misleading – there is no therapy involved. Conversion practices are based on the false and harmful belief that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity can, or should, be changed or suppressed. Every major medical and psychological body has warned about the damage these practices cause. Studies show that conversion practices can lead to suicidal ideation, depression, and anxiety in the people who undergo them. They leave people carrying trauma, shame and the message that they are somehow broken.

The Social Democrats have been at the forefront of calls to introduce a complete ban on this deeply unethical and discredited practice. The party’s health spokesperson, Pádraig Rice TD, has repeatedly called on the government to move beyond words of support this Pride and take tangible action to progress LGBTQIA+ rights by banning conversion practices outright.

Such a ban was committed to in both the 2020 and 2025 Programmes for Government, and yet we still have no timeline for delivery. Legislation to prohibit these practices, introduced in 2018 by then-Senator Fintan Warfield, has never been progressed.

This failure sits alongside a moment of great progress. In June, legislation was passed to establish a scheme to disregard historic convictions for consensual same-sex relations.

Fear, secrecy

The many men who lived in Ireland under laws criminalising homosexuality still remember what it was like to grow up believing that who they loved made them criminals in the eyes of the State. They remember the fear, the secrecy and the shame those laws created.

Pride is a celebration. However, for some it is also a reminder of a time when simply being yourself could cost you your job, your family, your reputation, or even your freedom.

That is why the scheme to disregard historic convictions for same-sex relations is so important. It is an acknowledgement that these convictions should never have existed. It cannot undo the harm that was done, but it does mean the government has finally recognised that the State got it wrong.

But whilst we rightly acknowledge the injustice of the past, we cannot ignore the harm that continues today. It is a painful contradiction to celebrate the State recognising that it once criminalised LGBTQ+ people while failing to outlaw conversion practices that tell LGBTQ+ people they need to be ‘fixed’. That is totally at odds with the disregard scheme which recognised that the State was wrong to criminalise people for their sexuality in the first place.

Ireland has changed significantly over the past three decades. We decriminalised homosexuality. We became the first country in the world to introduce marriage equality by popular vote. We have made progress that once seemed unimaginable. But that progress was never inevitable - it happened because ordinary people refused to accept injustice. They organised, they campaigned, they challenged prejudice, and they changed Ireland for the better. The best way to honour that legacy is not simply to remember it, but to continue it.

We must ban conversion practices if we are to continue advancing the rights of the LGBTQI+ community in Ireland. Pride is not about asking for special treatment. It is about making sure every person can live openly, safely and with dignity – it's about ensuring that a young person growing up in Kilkenny, Carlow, or anywhere else in Ireland, knows there is nothing wrong with who they are, and will never be treated as less than equal because of who they love.

This Pride, we should celebrate how far we have come. But so long as we allow conversion practices to continue in Ireland, we are telling members of the LGBTQI+ community that they need to be ‘corrected’.

That is not true equality. Until this practice is banned, we still have work to do.