A Chinese psychological clinic was yesterday ordered to pay compensation to a gay man who sued it for administering electric shocks intended to make him heterosexual, in what is believed to be China’s first case involving so-called conversion therapy.
Lawyer Li Duilong (李對龍) said the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing ordered the clinic to pay 3,500 yuan (US$560) to compensate Yang Teng for costs incurred in the therapy.
Li said the court also ruled that there was no need to administer shocks because homosexuality did not require treatment. A suit against search engine giant Baidu for advertising the Xinyu Piaoxiang clinic in the city of Chongqing was dismissed.
Calls to the court rang unanswered, and a person at the clinic hung up when the case was mentioned.
Reached by telephone, Yang said he was “very satisfied with the results, which I didn’t expect.”
“The court sided with me, and it has supported that homosexuality is not a mental disease that requires treatment,” he said.
Yang said the therapy included hypnosis and electric shocks that harmed him both physically and emotionally.
He said he voluntarily underwent the therapy in February following pressure from his parents to marry and have a child.
Yang said the verdict will help gay rights advocates to urge clinics to stop offering such treatments and persuade parents not to pressure their gay children to undergo therapy.
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