Israel ranked first place when it comes to the number of people in the country who search for conversion therapy on Google. In second place is Costa Rica followed by New Zealand and Canada. The US came in fifth.
In an attempt to combat the continued use of this dangerous treatment, Google Israel will work with The Aguda and the Havruta Association, two of Israel's leading LGBTQ+ organizations, to filter the search page results when users search for information on conversion therapy.
Google וארגוני הקהילה הגאה בישראל אומרים לא ל״טיפולי" המרה לשינוי הנטייה המינית או הזהות המגדרית. תאהבו את עצמכם, תאהבו את הילדים שלכם, תהיו מי שאתן.ם #גאווה2021 #loveislove pic.twitter.com/3EiKojEj4e
— האגודה למען הלהט"ב בישראל | The Aguda (@AgudaIsraelLGBT) June 22, 2021
Instead of bringing up information about where and how individuals can access the dangerous pseudoscientific treatment which aims to change the individual's sexual orientation to heterosexual using psychological or physical methods, Google will instead show the user adverts for various LGBT organizations which will be able to help them instead.
הצצה קטנה בגוגל טרנדס ובתוצאות החזויות בגוגל מראה שעדיין יש כאלו שמנסים לפנות לטיפולי המרה. במסגרת #Pride2021, החברה מצטרפת לקמפיין חדש שיופץ ברשתות החברתיות בניסיון לשים לזה סוף pic.twitter.com/PjXDO51Tp6
— Shay Fridman | שי פרידמן (@Fridman_Shay) June 22, 2021
CEO of Google Israel Barak Regev commented on the decision, saying that "Google has always been an ally of the LGBTQ+ community in Israel and around the world."
He added that he hopes this is a decision "that can save many lives."
"Everyone who comes out of the closet, whether on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, should be accepted with love and without conditions."
Conversion therapy is currently only directly banned in four countries: Brazil, Ecuador, Germany and Malta. Partial bans are also in place in the US, Canada, Australia and Spain.
There is currently no formal ban on the practice of conversion therapy in Israel, although in July 2020 a bill was passed in the Knesset to ban psychologists from practicing conversion therapy. The bill passed with 42 for and 36 against, but must still undergo two more rounds of voting before it is codified. Despite the lack of a formal ban in Israel, in 2019 the Israeli Medical Association issued a ban preventing all of its members from performing any conversion therapy on patients.
Multiple studies both in Israel and around the world have proven that conversion therapy not only does not convert the patient's sexual orientation, but that it also causes extensive mental damage in people who undergo the treatment, including clinical depression and suicidal tendencies.