This sounds like something out of a horror movie.
Yang Teng, a gay man living in Bejing, says he was left “traumatized” after receiving a series of electroshock treatments when he told his doctor that he had been having sexual thoughts about other men, the Malay Mail Online reports.
The Xinyu Piaoxiang clinic, where the procedures took place, has now been ordered by a court to pay Yang 3,500 yuan (approximately U.S. $560) and issue a public apology on its website.
The court also ruled that homosexuality does not require medical treatment. It is the first time the country has issued a verdict of this kind.
“I’m going to take this verdict and show it to my parents so they can see a Chinese court said homosexuality isn’t a mental illness,” Yang said.
According to Malay Mail Online, China stopped classifying homosexuality as a “mental disorder” in 2001, but gay people there still often face pressure from family and friends to undergo “treatment” to turn straight, or to marry someone the opposite sex.
Activists are calling the verdict in Yang’s case as a huge step forward. Yang says he plans to continue working on advancing gay rights in his country so others like him won’t have to suffer similar treatment in the future.
Related stories:
Average Beijingers Sound Off On Gay Men: “I Think They Are Repulsive”
How A Chinese Gay Dating App You’ve Never Heard Of Just Hit 15 Million Users
ART: Chinese Artists Reveal “Secret Love” In Stockholm Exhibit
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
NiceNCool1
Wow, I’m sorry he had to go through that, but ultimately this is good news for a change. Nice.
CK01
I’ve heard of pray away the gay, but shock the gay? Both are tortuous to the mind, body and spirt. For an honest Christian lens into “conversion therapy,” Bryan Christopher’s new memoir, “Hiding from Myself” (on Amazon) should be required reading for anyone considering “ex-gay” therapy, for either themselves, or their kids.
Trippy
I’m guessing FoxNews won’t be running this as a feature story with Sean Hannity demanding answers from the Bachmann’s about reparative therapy. Just a guess.
Ladbrook
This type of bullshit needs to stop in the US as well. If anyone thinks that these “reparative” clinics are just about counseling and prayer, then those people are very naïve. More exposure please. Shine a bright light on the whole fucking industry.
That poor guy. I feel badly for him. Hopefully he’ll move on with his life and put this horror show behind him.
I'm Black, and HIV-Positive.
It’s all Chinese to me. This sounds like the same treatment they must have used on Saint Law.
My question is this: Did Yang even say that he needed help in dealing with his sexual preference, or did this “doctor” just take upon him, or HERself (yes this madness could have been unleashed upon him by a woman doctor folks) to infer that he was asking for help by nature of disclosing such horror? This is all very concerning.
But then he only got $560, and an apology online? Ummm. Ok. You mean he got two stamped envelopes, and a bus ticket? Somehow this just all the way leaves me completely befuddled though. However, if you’re gonna call this “progress” then hooray I guess.
You meant Chinese progress right?
rickhfx
I know a 60 year old man, he is a friend of mine that sadly had electro shock treatment back in the day, right here in the good old USA to cure him of his affliction of homosexuality. He learned to enjoy the shocks. He has many issues to this day from his past of anti gay messages he lived with. Never let anti gay bigotry go unchecked, the damage is causes is unexceptable.
Saint Law
@I’m Black, and HIV-Positive.: In the west they only administer it to peops suffering from mental illness, as you will well know, Jason.
I'm Black, and HIV-Positive.
@Saint Law: Sad attempt Saint Law! So you’ve come out from under the rock that your rascist, Nazi ass has been hiding under? But winter isn’t over yet you snake. Ha ha ha!
And was it very traumatic for you to read about what someone else who went through the same thing that you went through, but who atleast got some money, and an online apology out of it? Suffer in silence bitch. You’re not even gay anymore! Not that it wouldn’t have been to insulting to the rest of us if you were.