Chinese clinic refunds gay man it tried to ‘cure’ with electroshock therapy
By Josh Haggis
A Chinese court has ordered a psychological clinic to refund a gay man the money he spent on electroshock therapy which was designed to ‘cure’ him of his homosexuality.
After voluntarily submitting himself to the Xinyu Piaoxiang clinic in February following pressure from his family, Yang Teng underwent hypnosis and electroshock therapy in an attempt to make him straight.
In what is thought to be China’s first ruling on so-called ‘conversion therapy’, the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing has ordered the clinic to refund Yang the 3,500 yuan (£360) he paid for the therapy, after it ruled that homosexuality doesn’t require any form of treatment.
Yang said the therapy had harmed him both physically and emotionally, and that he hoped the case would discourage clinics from offering such treatment in the future.
“I’m very satisfied with the results, which I didn’t expect,” Yang told AP. “The court sided with me, and it has supported that homosexuality is not a mental disease that requires treatment.
“Someone needs to step up because we must stop such severe transgressions,” he added.
Although intolerance towards the LGBT community is widespread in China, the country stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder in 2001.
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