Make Your Voice Heard on So-Called Conversion Practices in Europe
Athena Forum urges PACE Members to Reject Draft Resolution on “Conversion Practices"
One of the most obnoxious ploys in the trans activists’ playbook is to label any non-affirming treatment for gender distress as “Conversion therapy.” Not only does this criminalize genuinely exploratory therapy, but it also perpetuates the misconception that trans identification is “just like the struggle for LGB rights”.
As Genspect has emphasised, transition is arguably the ultimate conversion therapy for same-sex attracted people. Don’t like feeling attracted to your own sex? Change your body to appear as the other. The solution of choice — transition — for repressive regimes like that of Iran under the Mullahs should not be made standard practice anywhere. Unfortunately, this is what the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is attempting to do, and why Genspect wholeheartedly supports the Athena Forum’s new Europe-wide campaign
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The Athena Forum is encouraging citizens to contact their national delegates to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) ahead of a planned vote on a draft resolution on “conversion practices.”
The draft, proposed by UK Labour MP Kate Osborne, was adopted by the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination in December 2025. It recommends that member states enact legislation prohibiting “conversion practices,” defined as any attempt to change, repress, or suppress a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The resolution is scheduled for debate and a plenary vote on 29 January 2026.
Athena Forum argues that the proposal broadens the definition of “conversion” to include any non-affirming response to a child’s self-declared gender identity. They warn that this could impact therapists providing exploratory therapy, educators, parents offering guidance, and others, potentially leading to restrictions on professional practice and family decision-making.
The organization has released a policy brief outlining concerns about the effects of such bans, particularly for children with additional health or social challenges and for lesbian and gay adolescents.
Faika El-Nagashi, Director of Athena Forum and a former Austrian Green MP, put it this way:
“The proposed resolution is a pure ideological overreach. It seeks to criminalise therapists, teachers and parents who do not affirm a child as transgender, while mandating training programmes, public campaigns and sex-education curricula centred on gender identity and expression. This is a transactivist Trojan horse.”
Genspect joins Athena in urging citizens to contact their national PACE representative directly to make their voice heard. As part of the campaign, a template is available on here for citizens to email their national PACE representatives directly.
Athena Forum further notes that the label “conversion therapy” traditionally refers to abusive practices historically directed at lesbians and gay men—practices already criminalized in many European countries as forms of coercion, assault, or deprivation of liberty. The current draft applies the term to myriad situations, such as verbal discussion, non-affirmative therapy, or parental objections in cases involving minors.
The Forum is also reaching out directly to PACE delegates, recommending that the text be returned to the committee for additional review, debate, and evidence-based evaluation.
Read Athena’s briefing on conversion therapy bans here.
Athena Forum is a European initiative working to protect sex-based rights in law, policy, and public discourse, and to promote evidence-based approaches and open debate. Founded by Faika El-Nagashi, it focuses on the rights of women, children, lesbians, and gay men.
For more information, visit Athena Forum.