Europe’s queer ‘conversion’ therapy crisis is an invisible trauma for victims, but a difficult practice to ban

“Every day, I would be given shock treatment.”

Edward was 27 when he started his conversion treatment in London. He would be faced with the photo of a shirtless male, and for six weeks, would get shocked on his arms if he wanted to keep looking at the picture.

“I was black and blue. I could never roll my sleeves up,” he told EUobserver.

Now 81, living in Malta with his husband, the Irishman is appalled that this practice is still affecting LGBTI+ communities: “Look at the time we’re in now, 2026 and it’s still going on. It’ll never stop. Never.”

A quarter of LGBTI+ people in the EU are estimated to have experienced conversion practices to attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, with many more at risk.