Supreme Court justice Cármen Lúcia suspended a decision by the Federal Justice of the Federal District that would have potentially allowed psychologists to treat gays and lesbians who were looking to change their sexual orientation, also known popularly as the “gay cure.”
Cármen Lúcia granted the 2018 request of the Federal Council of Psychology (CFP) to repeal the 2017 judicial decision. The provisional decision was made on April 9 and published this Wednesday (24).
The CFP argued that the original decision of judge Waldemar Cláudio de Carvalho, of the 4th Lower Federal Court in the Federal District, usurped the power of the Supreme Court by analyzing the constitutionality of a 1999 entity prohibiting the “gay cure”
The judge's 2017 decision was made in response to a popular action in which some psychologists alleged that CFP prohibited professionals to develop studies about people who are not content with their sexual orientation, thus impeding scientific development in this area.
The popular action called for the council to be barred from penalizing psychologists who wanted to work in this area.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon