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The National Council does not want a ban on conversion therapy for the time being. A person affected explains what traces the controversial conversion measures have left on him.
“The goal was clear: I would become heterosexual,” says Mäth Gerber about his first experience with a therapist he had visited because of his homosexuality. “She told me it would be done after three to four sessions,” Gerber continued. He grew up in a free church environment and as a young man wanted a family with a wife and children.
Legend:
Mäth Gerber was in therapy for years. The aim was to “cure” him of his homosexuality.
SRF
Gerber stops the first therapy, but then carries out further so-called conversion therapies. These therapies or measures are about “curing” homosexual people or helping them to suppress their sexuality. The next therapist was no longer concerned with changing his polarity, says Gerber. “But the idea was that homosexuality probably arose from an injury or something similar,” he says. And if he can get to the bottom of this injury, then maybe something will change in the way he perceives his sexuality.
After more than ten years of therapy, he realizes that none of these efforts are working. “That caused a lot of frustration for me,” he says, looking back. “I think it definitely hasn’t left me unscathed, this constant fighting against myself.” He constantly heard that there were things about him that weren’t good.
Advance in Parliament
The issue is also on the minds of Parliament. However, this does not currently want to ban conversion therapies in Switzerland. The National Council voted 99 to 77 against two professional initiatives from Lucerne and Basel-Stadt. But that doesn’t mean the ban is off the table.
The National Council already adopted a motion in December 2022 calling for a ban. This is pending in the Council of States. Its preliminary advisory commission wants to wait for a report from the federal government on this topic. This should be available this summer, as National Councilor Sibel Arslan (Greens/BS) said in the council. It is currently difficult to estimate how many people in Switzerland are affected by such conversion therapies.
“I am for a ban”
Mäth Gerber is disappointed and hopes that politicians will take action. He looks back today without resentment, but hopes others don’t have to go through the same experience. “I’m definitely in favor of a ban,” he declares firmly. Gerber asks himself how a ban could be implemented. His therapies were never offered under the name “conversion therapy”, but rather as normal pastoral care or psychotherapy. Gerber’s conclusion: “What happens behind closed doors is difficult to control.”
Today Mäth Gerber lives in a partnership with a man and has three divine children. The relationship wasn’t always easy because he had heard for so long that it wasn’t okay. But he is very grateful for his understanding partner.