Main | Friday, December 19, 2014

CHINA: Court Orders "Ex-Gay" Torture Clinic To Pay Compensation To Victim

In the first-ever such ruling in Chinese history, a court has ordered an "ex-gay" torture clinic to pay compensation to one of its victims. Via the Wall Street Journal:
“We’re incredibly happy,” said Yang Teng, the plaintiff in the case. Mr. Yang earlier told China Real Time (which previously quoted him using the pseudonym Xiao Zhen) that staff at a clinic in the southwestern city of Chongqing told him they could cure his homosexuality, then put him in a state of light hypnosis and shocked him with electrodes every time he thought of gay sex. “In her decision, the judge said that homosexuality is not a disease, therefore the clinic had no basis to undertake treatment,” he said. Mr. Yang said the court had ordered the clinic, Chongqing Jinyu Piaoxiang, to pay him 3,500 yuan ($563) in compensation. It also required the clinic to post an apology for offering the treatment on the front page of its website for 48 hours and ordered an investigation whether the clinic’s license was valid.
Chinese search engine giant Baidu was also named in the suit, but the court ruled that it could not be held liable for running ads for the torture clinics. Those ads have since been removed and a spokesman for Baidu commented on the ruling: "We’re very glad to see justice served, and we share the opinion that unqualified therapy must be very vigilantly regulated. We hope Yang Teng will find some comfort in the court’s ruling."

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