The service will combine professional, therapeutic, legal, community and public resources in the field today in collaboration with the LGBTQ+ organizations in Israel, with an emphasis on the religious LGBTQ+ organizations, including Havruta, Bat Kol and Shoval.
The municipality has already set aside a budget of NIS 25,000 for the project for 2021. The center will provide a team of specialists to provide an alternative to conversion therapy and help prevent suffering among many youth, especially religious youth.
An advanced and accessible website is also being built for the project to provide clear information about conversion therapy and provide options to report incidents.
There are currently five organizations in Israel that provide conversion therapy with many independent "therapists" providing conversion therapy as well. Attempts to outlaw the practice have all fell through.
The new center is an integral part of the many projects Havruta has conducted to combat conversion therapy, including projects to raise public awareness, publish testimony by survivors and promote the involvement of MKs and public figures in the issue.
"It is impossible to stand aside while LGBTQ+ people, including many boys and girls, are victims of violence and abuse in 'treatments' with a laundered name," said Itai Pinkas-Arad, a member of the Tel Aviv City Council responsible for LGBTQ+ issues in the city. "The law passed in the Knesset in a preliminary reading in July 2020 was a step in the right direction, but the legislation has unfortunately not been completed. It is a matter of the life and death because with or without physical violence, with or without psychological training, every pressure on a young person to change who he is can break his spirit and him."
"Many young men and women live in Tel Aviv-Yafo and beyond today who have managed to get themselves out of this horror and tell their story, and the Havruta organization knows and closely accompanies many of them," added Pinkas-Arad. "Together, we have the ability to lead social change like no other arm of the state or local authority has done before us."
"It is exciting to see that the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality has lifted the gauntlet in establishing the center, which will first and foremost help many and prevent damage mainly to religious LGBTQ+ people, but not only," said Shai Bramson, chairman of Havruta.
"In recent years, we have seen more acceptance of LGBT people in the Israeli public, but at the same time a wave of hatred and incitement has begun against us and our families. As part of this wave, conversion agencies have also raised their heads," added Bramson. "In recent years, Tel Aviv-Yafo has become, in addition to Jerusalem, a center for religious LGBTQ+ people, whether those who live in Gush Dan in general and most of their social activity is in Tel Aviv, or those who 'fled' to it from around the country."
"Havruta's activity in the city has grown greatly, and I'm glad the municipality supports this important venture," said Bramson. "Unfortunately, it is very easy to fall on dangerous 'therapists' in a simple Google search, whose whole purpose is to change the patient's sexual orientation, even at the cost of harming him. We hope that the center's activities will help a lot and drastically lower the thousands of LGBTQ+ people who fall into the conversion scam each year."
Last July, a bill which would have taken away the license of psychologists who conduct conversion therapy, fine them and send them to jail for repeat offenses, passed a preliminary reading, but later fell in a first reading.
The Israel Psychological Association’s official stance is against conversion therapy, as it was “not found to be helpful, and could cause real damage,” including “anxiety, depression, suicide, isolation and social withdrawal, difficulty making intimate and sexual connections, avoiding social connections, harm to religious belief, anger and distancing toward parents,” according to Dr. Tzvi Fishel, Chairman of the Israel Psychological Association.