Peretz: Gay conversion therapy works
PM calls education minister’s comments ‘unacceptable’ and not reflective of his government
Education Minister and Bayit Yehudi leader Rabbi Rafi Peretz caused a firestorm of protest Saturday night after saying he believes the highly controversial practice of “gay conversion therapy,” trying to change a gay individual’s sexual orientation, to be effective.
Peretz said that he himself has participated in providing such “treatment” to gay individuals in the past and that his approach is for the person in question “to get to know himself better and then decide,” on their sexual orientation.
The Health Ministry said in 2014 there was no scientific evidence that gay conversion, which includes counseling and even electro-shock therapy, is effective and said it can cause harm to those exposed to it.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly criticized his education minister for his remarks, and Peretz was assailed by opposition politicians and NGOs, many of whom called on the prime minister to fire him.
The chairman of the Israel Association of Psychiatrists underlined in response to the minister’s
comments that there is no therapy that can change a person’s sexual orientation.
Speaking during an interview with Channel 12 broadcast Saturday night, Peretz was asked about his attitude toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and specifically his opinion on conversion therapy.
“I think that it is possible to convert [someone’s sexual orientation],” said the education minister when asked about the issue. “I can tell you that I have deep familiarity on the issue of education, and I have also done it [conversion therapy].”
Asked how he would address an individual who told him he was gay, Peretz said, “I would first of all embrace him, then I said let us think, let us learn, let us consider. The goal is that first of all he gets to know himself better and then he can decide.”
Peretz also said in his interview that he would continue the funding for the Israel Gay Youth movement but that he could block the group from sending representatives to schools and would have to examine its “messaging” before deciding.
Netanyahu issued a statement saying he had personally spoken with Peretz to convey his criticism.
”The remarks of the minister of education regarding the LGBT community are unacceptable and do not reflection the position of the government under my leadership,” said Netanyahu. “I spoke to Rabbi Rafi Peretz this evening and made it clear to him that the Israeli educational system will continue to accept all Jewish children whoever they are and without
any difference based on sexual orientation.”
Nitzan Horowitz said in response that homosexual conversion therapy was a dangerous practice “which causes extremely severe circumstances for youths, including suicide,” saying that the concept was not only irresponsible, but endangered people’s lives.
“Rafi Peretz, what are you proud about?” demanded the Meretz leader. “That you erased the identity of young men and women? That you caused people to feel that their sexual orientation is a sickness? That they have no place to be who they are and to love who they want. You are not fitting to be responsible for the future of our children .... I call on [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to fire Minister Rafi Peretz immediately.”
Chairman of the Association of Psychiatrists in Israel Zvi Fishel said he was “embarrassed and worried” that Israel’s education minister not only spoke out in favor of conversion therapy but had participated in it as well.
“As the Israel Medical Association, the Association of Psychiatrists in Israel, and many other doctors’ associations in Israel and around the world have determined, there is no therapy that can convert the sexual orientation of any person,” Fishel said. “Conversion therapies that pretend to change sexual orientation have not only been scientifically proven to be ineffective, but represent a danger and cause severe damage to the psyche of the individual and feelings of failure which are likely to lead to suicide.” He added that Peretz’s comments endangered lives.
Blue and White MK Yair Lapid said in a brief comment on Twitter that “until Rafi Peretz undergoes conversion therapy for his benighted and crazy opinions he cannot continue to serve as education minister.”
Labor leader Amir Peretz responded that the education minister’s statement was inhuman and that everyone should have a right to love, marry and build a family with whomever they choose.
“In the upcoming election, the people of Israel will convert the Education Ministry out of the hands of the extreme Right,” Peretz said.
The Israel Gay Youth movement, which receives funding from the education ministry, said its staff “were in shock” at the minister’s comments but would not be commenting further for the moment.
Peretz’s latest public hiccup comes after stirring controversy in recent days for his remarks against intermarriage. During a government meeting last week, the education minister called intermarriage “a second Holocaust,” claiming that “we [have] lost six million Jews in this way [due to assimilation] since the Holocaust.”
Gil Hoffman and Maayan Hoffman contributed to this report. •