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Auckland Pride director Max Tweedie, who has spent two years pushing for a ban, including petitioning Parliament, said the Labor announcement could not come soon enough.
“We are looking forward to holding them accountable for it and making sure it happens as soon as possible,” Tweedie said.
Conversion Therapy Action Group co-founder Shaneel Lal agrees.
“I think it’s pretty clear that conversion therapy is state-approved therapy. The message is clear, eliminate hate by law.”
Conversion therapy is done through many different methods, including prayer.
“We have heard young people say that they pray to God to heal or kill them,” Lal said.
Labor’s Rainbow spokesperson Tāmati Coffey says the practice has a huge impact on people’s mental health.
“It is linked to severe anxiety and depression and even suicide in some cases,” Coffey said.
He said all conversion therapy, no matter how the groups that use it label it, “will be” banned by Labor.
“It is dangerous and must be prohibited.”
Labor MP Grant Robertson admitted on Monday that the party had the opportunity to ban him this period, but not all coalition partners agreed.
“However, what we are saying now is that this is something that we will promote in the government and we will pass the legislation,” he said.
When asked if New Zealand First put a handbrake on the change, he did not respond directly, saying that questions should be asked of that party about it.
“You will need to talk to them about it.”
In addition to banning conversion therapy, Labor will also invest $ 4 million in existing LGTBQ + youth mental health services, ensure those services are more responsive to trans, intersex and gender diverse people, help provide gender neutral toilets in schools and eliminate discriminatory practices of adoption and surrogacy policies.
