Zurich shelves its conversion-practices ban: who decided, what it means and what you can do now

What was decided On Thursday 29 October 2026 the steering committee of the Zurich cantonal parliament (the Geschäftsleitung des Kantonsrats) put the bill against conversion practices on hold. That is a suspension, not a final rejection and not a vote of the full parliament. The news agency SDA, carried by Watson and nau.ch, and Tsüri all describe it this way; only gay.ch speaks loosely of «the Kantonsrat» deciding. The committee members disagreed on whether Zurich needs its own ban or should wait for a national one, and the bourgeois representatives pushed the suspension through. It lasts at most one year but can be extended. Tsüri, citing the NZZ, reports a «razor-thin majority»; no other source gives a vote count.

What the bill would have done According to SDA, the government’s draft said that anyone who carries out or advertises such a therapy would be fined. The Regierungsrat was in favour of a cantonal ban. Tsüri writes that the parliamentary mandate came from the SP, Greens, AL, GLP and Mitte and that people had worked on it for five years. The bill was «almost finished». Without the suspension it would have reached parliament before the cantonal elections of April 2027, the Greens point out, calling the move a «tactical manoeuvre».

Who says what Florian Heer (Greens), author of the mandate, accuses the conservative parties of avoiding a debate «behind closed doors». He names the EVP, Mitte, FDP and SVP, as does gay.ch; SDA speaks only of the bourgeois side. The SP calls the decision «incomprehensible and unacceptable». AL Kantonsrat David Garcia Nuñez says anyone who knows how harmful these practices are and still delays protection «accepts further suffering». Dominik Steinacher of HAZ – Queer Zürich says: «We are especially disappointed in the Mitte», which he says backed the bill from the start. Tsüri writes instead that the Mitte favoured a ban until 2023; the sources disagree on that point. According to Watson, EVP Kantonsrat Renato Pfeffer-Becker was himself affected by conversion measures in his former free-church setting.

The national picture Bans are in force in Valais, Neuchâtel and Vaud, SDA reports; Aargau and Lucerne are waiting for a national solution, as Zurich now does. The Federal Council signalled openness to a ban in a report in early September, writes Tsüri; the ball is now with the Council of States, and the National Council spoke against a ban in 2024. The Greens expect a federal solution, if one comes at all, to take five to ten years. Our earlier article on the GLP’s U-turn ended with an open question about how the canton would proceed; this is the answer for now.

How common are conversion practices? The figures are framed differently. Tsüri cites a University of Bern study: one in ten gay, lesbian and bisexual people and one in six trans people in Switzerland have already been subjected to such «therapies». gay.ch gives almost ten percent and 16 percent and says all major medical and health associations reject the practices. SDA, by contrast, says how often they occur is not known and names two individual cases: a homeopathic doctor in French-speaking Switzerland in 2018 and a psychiatrist in Schwyz in 2020.

What you can do LOS, HAZ – Queer Zürich, TGNS and Pink Cross have launched a petition for an immediate ban (act.campax.org/petitions/konversionsmassnahmen-jetzt-verbieten); no signature target is published. If you or someone close to you is affected, the LGBT+ Helpline is free on 0800 133 133 (lgbt-helpline.ch). Hate crimes can be reported at stophate.ch. On 4 November Pink Cross announced that the LGBTIQ Helpline can now be supported with a monthly contribution through wemakeit; it describes the Helpline as peer-to-peer counselling and the reporting point for LGBTIQ-hostile violence. More support addresses are in the health and community sections of this site.

Last checked: 5 November 2026