feature image via AllOut.org
Virulent homophobia, like Justin Bieber or Coca-Cola, is a global phenomenon. And even though Michele Bachmann’s husband may or may not run one, that doesn’t mean that clinics promising to “cure” people of homosexual tendencies is confined to America.
According to a campaign on the social progress site Change.org, there are over 200 clinics “ex-gay clinics” in operation in Ecuador. Except instead of ex-gay clinics, Karen Barba of Fundacion Causa (a women’s rights organization based in Ecuador) calls them “lesbian torture clinics.” In the call for signatures on the Change.org petition, Fundacion Causa writes:
These clinics which claim to “cure” homosexuality have decreased in popularity in recent years yet still remain a horrific reality for many. Escaping patients report cases of physical and psychological abuse including verbal threats, shackling, days without food, sexual abuse, and physical torture. Paula Ziritti, 24, spent two years in one such facility and for three months was shackled in handcuffs while guards threw water and urine on her. She describes numerous accounts of physical and sexual abuse. Ziritti says,“The closure of the first clinics by the government is good, but not good enough. Why is the clinic where I suffered still open?”
![protest](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/protest.jpg?resize=390%2C285)
IMAGE VIA THE ADVOCATE
Like a conventionally understood “ex-gay clinic” in America, some “clients” of these clinics are unwilling patients sent there by horrified parents who hope their child is still capable of a heterosexual life. Unlike what we usually think of when we talk about American clinics, the parents can’t always get their children back, even if they want to. Once Ziritti’s parents realized what their daughter was undergoing, they tried to retrieve her, but the clinic refused. It took a year for them to successfully remove her. Afterwards, Ziritti underwent six months of actual psychological treatment to try to recover from what was done to her.
A campaign to close these “treatment centers” succeeded to a degree over the summer; in August, 27 clinics were shut down. There are over 200 still open. The only reason the world is even hearing Ziritti’s story is that she’s one of the only ones who’s managed to escape. The ex-gay clinics are often billed as drug rehabilitation centers, and while the public is reported to be generally aware of their real function, many don’t know that they practice abuse and torture on unwilling patients.
The Change.org petition calls on people all over the world to give their signatures and send a message to Dr. David Chirboga Allnut, Ecuador’s minister of health, and close the rest of the “torture clinics” in Ecuador. As of this writing, the petition has 94,690 signatures towards a goal of 100,000. Can you add your name to the list of people who want change?
Already signed this. Thank you for posting this. I urge all others to please sign this. This is an atrocity!
Hey! I´m from Ecuador so thanks for posting this. A lot of people don´t know the situation of this clinics, and is important to get all your support because even if there are people in here who are fighting we still need help. Pleas sign up! You will be helping a lot of people like me that lives in this country.
Love from Ecuador
Carolina
Signed. This is so freaking horrifying. The Ecuadorian government needs to shut this shit down immediately!
It makes me cry that this is going on.
Me too.
I already signed this last week, put it on my Facebook and Twitter, told all my friends…
I wish there was more we could do. This is the most horrific thing I have heard about in a long time.
signed the fuck out of that unit
thanks for posting this. sometimes we forget that people care. i understand most news come from other parts of the world and that you guys are based in america, but we really appreciate when you remind everyone that gay people are everywhere and most live in places where homosexuality is so much more controversial.
Being Ecuadorian myself and a normal human being i hope this sickening practice ends soon
I definitely signed this. Thank you for sharing this with us, as saddening as it is. Because it is much worse for the women who this is a reality for.
Thank you for posting this. I love Ecuador but reading this made me feel sick.
This is horrifying. Thank you for the coverage.
I signed and shared on facebook (now reaction from my asshat-friends though, I hope they signed in silence…) and I can’t. believe. they haven’t reached 100.000 signatures yet.
no reaction.
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