Report: Malaysia Government Funds Conversion Therapy Centers

A new report by Human Rights Watch and Justice for Sisters shows LGBTQ people in Malaysia are being subjected to government-sanctioned conversion therapy programs with the intent of “curing” their sexuality. From Pink News:

Government officials have actively created an anti-LGBTQ+ society that uses the criminal justice system and rehabilitation centres to undermine LGBTQ+ rights.

The report found the Malaysian government funds state-sanctioned conversion therapy retreats called mukhayyam that aim is to change participants’ sexual orientation. Since June 2021, 1,733 people have attended these programs, the report stated.

One interviewee, Farah, recounted her experience at a mukhyyam, stating in the report: “They talk about the beauty of nature, and they ask us to be grateful, and at the end of the program they use their psychology… to say that ‘so this is your nature, so you have to go back to nature’.”

Farah added that the conversion therapy retreats in Malaysia also included disturbing discussion of people living with HIV. Slideshows featuring photos of individuals with HIV were shown basically outing those folks’ HIV status. Read more at here.

Malaysian government funding bogus conversion therapy centres, report finds https://t.co/O0sVhbFwQ9

— PinkNews (@PinkNews) August 12, 2022

Related: UK Bans Conversion Therapy For Gays