One year after its launch, a petition aimed at European citizens demanding a ban on conversion therapy has reached over one million signatures. Launched by the association ACT (Against Conversion Therapy), the initiative was launched with the objective of triggering a European legal procedure, allowing legislative proposals to be submitted to the European Union authorities by European citizens.
Protestors marching against conversion therapy.
The petition has now met the eligibility requirements for European Citizens’ Initiatives, reformed in 2020 to improve accessibility. Meaning, the minimum threshold of signatories in at least seven EU member states has been reached, amounting to at least one million signatures in total.
When online statements of support closed on May 17th, the relevant quota was reached in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden – a total of 10 countries – amounting to over 1,200,000 signatures total.
The Croatian signatories were also close to reaching the minimum quota, with 91.94% of the threshold reached, while France received the most signatures overall, with 663,596 statements of support. This represented over 1,000% of the required threshold in the country. The impressive number could be explained by the fact that the initiative originated in France, where conversion therapy is prohibited. A victory for LGBTQ+ people, the petition forces the European Commission to explore the citizens’ initiative, even if each signature must first be verified and validated.
A true tool of participatory democracy, this European Citizens’ Initiative could compel European administrations to establish regulations. It could also bring about sanctions against national authorities for non-compliance with the stated regulations in countries still ambivalent or hostile to LGBTQ+ rights, such as Poland, Romania, or Italy.
While the success of the petition is not a total victory and work still must be done, the ACT initiative allows for a united voice to be heard, to influence European policy, and to bring the issue back onto the agenda. The European Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib has already implicitly lent support to the initiative, although without mentioning any legal means or position yet.
However, the support of influential figures in the EU administration and European politics, while highly desirable, should not detract from the fact that this result is primarily a result of citizen mobilisation. A citizen mobilisation which relied heavily on social media.
In the case of France, the political class only belatedly relayed the initiative, which had already invaded social media for several days. Radical leftist group La France Insoumise representatives started to post about the initiative less than 48 hours before the initiative deadline, even later for the Socialists, whereas president Emmanuel Macron stated its support on the last day. If politicians and administrators are celebrating on social media, it shouldn’t be by writing a patronising “WE did it”, but rather by embracing the victory in itself.
It is in fact important that such Citizen Initiatives, even more in such a context of a rising far-right, can be celebrated for what they are: a success of a citizen mobilisation, which does not rely solely on the political class, and which brings democracy to life by acting for its citizens rights. Acknowledging this is to buttress up our resistance and capacity of mobilisation.
Besides, we also need to remember to pay attention to such political instrumentalisation, because it can be done by politicians who do not share the same stances. For instance, Aurore Bergé, a French liberal politician, is posting content celebrating the petition while she is known for engaging with transphobic ideas. Queer people will not guarantee their rights by compromising with a majority aiming to fragment us in groups and to discriminate against a new minority in order to perpetuate a norm. It is worth remembering that none of us are free until all of us are free.
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