BFMTV reveals conversion therapies are still happening, despite the law

The video made the rounds on social media. A BFMTV reporter infiltrated a hidden camera during a stay organized this summer by the evangelical Protestant association Torrents de vie which defends ” the restoration of our relational and sexual identity”.

The organization offers conversion therapies disguised under another name, despite a legal ban on the practice. Since January 2022, conversion therapies are punishable by two years’ imprisonment and a 30,000 euro fine.

“Freedom from Discomfort”

In the video, the journalist tells us that the laboratories for “free yourself from pain” are organized on “emotional addiction, alcohol, pornography” But “the organizers can also deal with issues relating to sexual orientation”.

” Same-sex attraction is a way to fill something I haven’t had with the love I haven’t had and will look for in someone like me.”, explains an organizer. For ” give up the fire of desire », the participants are invited to recite « prayers » and receive hugs for « fill ” They ” alleged lack of love “.

Present in fifteen French cities, the association had already been reported in 2021 in a report by Miviludes (Interministerial mission for surveillance and fight against sectarian abuses).

The government takes legal action

In a statement, the Home Office responded to the report: “Following a media investigation, it emerged that the Protestant Evangelical association Torrent de vie practiced conversion therapies although the latter had been made illegal”.

The Secretary of State for Citizenship, in charge of the Interior, Sonia Backès contacted Miviludes “study all possible lines of action to sanction the Torrent de vie association and its leaders”. For his part, Bérangère Couillard, minister delegated to gender equality, has called for the seizure of the prosecutor “to investigate the actions of the Torrents of life”.