Germany has announced that it had placed a ban on the so-called gay conversion therapy, which was aimed at the minors of the country.

The controversial therapy is currently banned in Switzerland, some parts of Australia, Canada, and the United States of America.

In Germany, anyone that is found to be offering gay conversion therapy under the age of 18 can face 1 year in prison or a fine of 30,000 Euros.

The ban came 1 year after Jens Spahn, the Health Minister of Germany, announced the plans last year.

A bill was drafted in November last year and the law, and fast forward to this year, the bill got passed.

Conversion Therapy claims to be able to change a person’s sexual orientation, though there is no basis for the practice.

Treatments that are included in this therapy are hypnosis and electric shocks.

According to the Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, a Berlin-based human rights organization, around 1000 people are subjected to the conversion therapy in Germany annually.

BREAKING: Germany bans 'conversion therapy' #NOH8 https://t.co/iWPApjjB11 pic.twitter.com/y7h9Kfa55n

— NOH8 Campaign (@NOH8Campaign) May 8, 2020

According to some researches, the therapy can increase the risk of a person getting depression and is more likely to commit suicide.

Spahn, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats party, talked about why they wanted to ban the therapy.

In a statement that they released, they said:

Homosexuality is not a disease. Therefore the name therapy alone is misleading. This so-called therapy makes people sick and not better. The ban is also an important signal from society to all those who are unsure about their homosexuality: It is okay to be the way you are.

However, critics argue that the law does not go far enough.

The Green Party of Germany said that the age limit should be raised to 26 and the Left Party wants it to be 27.