1 in 5 Canadians still support conversion therapy: survey

More than 20 per cent of Canadians disagree with a ban on conversion therapy that was brought in at the beginning of the year.

A recent poll from Research Co. found that while 62 per cent of Canadians thought the ban was a good thing, 21 per cent disagreed with making conversion therapy illegal. A further 17 per cent were undecided.

Conversion therapy is the belief that a person can be "converted" from being homosexual to being heterosexual.

In January, federal legislation made it illegal to promote, advertise, or profit from providing conversion therapy or to subject a person, consenting or not, to conversion therapy in Canada.

Kelowna-based Advocacy-Canada.lgbt president Wilbur Turner said he's not surprised by the results, but they are disappointing.

"It is homophobic and it is damaging to the community," Turner said.

The poll found that 71 per cent of NDP voters favoured the ban, as well as 70 per cent of Liberal voters. Of Conservative voters, 57 per cent favoured the ban.

Turner said the biggest pushback against the ban came from the evangelist and Catholic churches.

"(The) religious community said it was going to suppress religious freedoms and their ability to counsel people and... it would restrict what they do and criminalize some of the things that they do," he said.

Pushback also came from Kelowna-Lake Country MP, Tracy Gray, who was criticized for her U-turn stance on the law and ultimately voted against it.

"It's indicative of the party she represents and the people that vote for her," Turner said.

READ MORE: Kelowna's Tracy Gray only MP in region to vote against ban on conversion therapy

Kelowna Pride board president Fahmy Baharuddin said that people need to understand the implications of conversion therapy.

"Here in Canada not a lot of people know the ongoing trauma that can come from it... and how devastating it can be," Baharuddin said.

Baharuddin said people going through conversion therapy are told to cut people off from their lives and to deny themselves their identity.

"It's not backed up by any form of science," he said. "People are just the way they are and trying to change that is not necessarily something that we want to do."

Baharuddin said when he was in his early 20s while in his home country of Malaysia he was caught partying in a gay club and instead of going to jail was forced to do two weeks of corrective therapy.

"I was told to change or I wouldn't amount to anything," he said.

While laws and attitudes in Canada are quite different from Malaysia, the fact that 21 per cent of Canadians still support conversion therapy shows there is more homophobia in society than people might realize.

Turner said you notice homophobia when you're part of the gay community.

"In the queer community you're more tuned into it and you... hear it more often because it's directed towards you," Turner said. "There are all kinds of layers of homophobia and transphobia."

READ MORE: Kelowna council accused of passing the buck by refusing to ban conversion therapy

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