Beijing court rules gay-conversion clinic treatments illegal

BEIJING, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A Beijing court set precedent Friday in ruling against a gay-conversion clinic, saying treatments by electroshock and hypnosis are illegal.

It was the first ruling of its kind in China, where homosexuality is often regarded as forbidden. Gay rights activists said they hope the case of Yang Teng, 30, against the Xinyu Piaoxiang clinic in Chonqing will be considered a landmark.

"We're incredibly happy. In her decision, the judge (Wang Chenghong) said that homosexuality is not a disease, therefore the clinic had no basis to undertake treatment," Yang told the Wall Street Journal. He added the court ordered the clinic, which offered to cure his homosexuality by inducing an hypnotic calm and shocking him when he thought of gay sex, to pay him a judgment of 3,500 yuan ($563) and provide an apology.

Although homosexuality was legalized in 1997 and removed in 2001 from China's mental disorders list, counseling centers across the country still offer what they claim are cures, and families and institutions often regard it as a problem to be fixed. The country's one-child policy has put pressure on young people to marry, and same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships remain unlawful.

Yang began treatments in February after pressure from his family, he said. He also attempted to sue the Chinese search engine Baidu for advertising the clinic he patronized, but the judge rejected his argument.

"We want to convey the court ruling to more Chinese parents so that they can understand that homosexuality is not an illness and does not need to be treated," he told the British newspaper The Guardian after the legal decision. "We hope to save other homosexual people from a lot of pain."