Inside Europe’s Secret Conversion Therapy Conference

Billed as a conference to “share the latest research initiatives and best practise” on conversion therapy, the event welcomed more than 220 participants from 32 countries by the end of October 2023. 

This cross-border investigation tells the story about this event, the violent beliefs and pseudo-theories on how to “heal” homosexuals and trans gender people that were propagated on the ground, but it also uncovers a network of organisations that work to spread this dangerous ideology across Europe. Conversion therapy practitioners from predominately Eastern European countries attended the conference and learnt strategies from speakers from the UK, Germany, the US and more, discussing how they can continue to perform therapy that is illegal in their home countries and widely discredited by international health organisations.

The core investigation is published in the UK and Germany, and followed by stories in Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia and Russia. 

Illustration by Katya Vakulenko / katyavakulenko.art