The fallout and the future of gay conversion therapy in N.L.

When conversion therapy didn't work, Gemma Hickey tried suicide.

They didn't want to be gay.

Hickey, who uses uses "they" instead of a gender-specific pronoun like"she" or "he," went to counselling sessions, did the prescribed readings, prayed, but nothing stuck.

It was the early 1990s. Hickey was in high school. Gay marriage wasn't legal. Homosexuality was frowned on by society and, especially, by the church.

After some time in the therapy, I attempted suicide.- Gemma Hickey

Back then, Hickey felt evil and diseased. And when therapy wasn't fixing their sexual orientation, they felt incurable.

"For me, I felt that at my very core there was something fundamentally flawed," they said. "And this was reaffirmed by this therapist and the types of materials that she would introduce into our sessions."

'Apremature sexuality'

Hickey's said the therapist claimed"homosexuality was a premature sexuality." That they were attracted to girls because they aspired to be like them. That they'd mature out of it and become heterosexual.

"I internalized a lot of my own homophobia That made me think that everyone outside of me wouldn't understand what I was going through, so it was very isolating," Hickeysaid.

"After some time in the therapy, I attempted suicide."

The Canadian Psychological Association denounced conversion therapyin 2015.

"It absolutely doesn't work," said Lisa Moores, president of the provincial association.

Moorescalled it destructive to a person's psychological health and human rights, and said it can shake a person's sense of identity and contribute to anxiety and depression.

Despite that, conversion therapy is legal in Newfoundland and Labrador, but provincial Justice Minister Andrew Parsons says the government is making progress on changing that.

Making change

The issue spans multiple departments Justice, Health, and Children, Seniors and Social Development said Parsons, and each area is researching changes to legislation. He hopes the government can have some kind of solution in place by next spring.

But, he said, "it's not just something entirely within provincial jurisdiction."

Last month, Parsons received a letter from the federal ministers of Health and Justice that said Ottawa is considering changes to the Criminal Code andurging him to "end the shameful practice of conversion therapy."

According to Parsons, the letter said kidnapping, forcible confinement, and assault may apply when a person is forcibly compelled to undergo conversion therapy, and fraud chargesmay also be relevant.

The letter asks Newfoundland and Labrador to join Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba in restricting the practice on a provincial level.

• 'It's very courageous': St. Albert moves to ban conversion therapy
• Ottawa rejects plea for nationwide conversion therapy ban

It's not clear how common conversion therapy is in the province. Hickey went through it in St. John's, but that was almost 30 years ago.

Parsons saidhe's heard, anecdotally, that people are sent out of province for it.

"I don't think it has any place anywhere," he said.

"I think it's something that has to be recognized across the country, which is why I do think the federal government is taking the aggressive steps that they're taking."

We ban things that we accept are harmful to people.- Lisa Moores

"We echo their sentiment on this."

To Hickey, a ban would ensure people have the freedom to be who they are.

"We ban things that we accept are harmful to people," saidMoores.

Hickey is now thriving as an LGBTQ activist andjust got married a couple of weeks ago.

"I'm one of the lucky ones. And I haven't had an easy life. But, thankfully, I'm not another statistic, and I want to tell every youth out there that they don't have to be either," said Hickey.

"If there's anything left of the therapy within me, it's to ensure that other young people don't feel the same way that I did at that time of my life."

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