Mercedes Malavé, leader of the Unión y Progreso party, apologized this Thursday to those who have felt attacked with her comments on the program Vladimir a la cartewhere he said that it is a generalization to classify all conversion therapies as a method of torture, which have been prohibited by countries such as France or New Zealand.
In his program on Wednesday, the journalist Vladimir Villegas asked the leader her opinion on the complaints that have arisen against some conversion therapies that people attend LGBTQ+, considered as torture.
“I have read something about it, although I express my ignorance, from the outset, about these issues. There was a time when psychiatric treatments were very tortuous, people were given electricity to reset their brains, more or less the period between the wars was like that. Psychiatric treatments were very painful, until later psychologists like Freud, Jung and others arrived and began to apply therapies where the patient felt more comfortable and where they did psychoanalysis, etc. So, to say that all psychiatrists or that all therapies that people with personality problems go to are bad and are torture, seems to me a generalization that makes no sense », he replied.
Likewise, he pointed out that if there is any case of torture during these therapies, it should be taken to the Prosecutor’s Office to be studied and to determine the degrees of responsibility of the doctor in altering the psyche of that person.
“Now, if there are others who want to go because it helps them, well, I don’t know. Or apply different treatments. I do not share these generalizations, it seems to me that they are propaganda », he added.
Villegas also asked Malavé about pedophilia within the Church: «It seems terrible to me. Pedophilia is a global problem. In Chile and the Netherlands there are even attempts to legalize parties that defend pedophilia as a sexual right. It would be good to ask the LGBTIQ+ groups if they are going to put a P on their flag, after their acronym, because there are those who say that it is legitimate to have those impulses or that inclination. It seems terrible to me,” he said.
However, the leader published a message in Twitter in which he apologized to those who were offended by his statements and stressed that during the interview he showed his support for the various voices for a world without discrimination.
“I reiterate what I also said in that interview: that I add my voice to the diverse voices for a world without discrimination or torture of any kind and with full respect for freedom of expression,” Malavé wrote.
I apologize to those who felt attacked by my comments on @Vladialacarta. I reiterate what I also said in that interview: that I add my voice to the diverse voices for a world without discrimination or torture of any kind and with full respect for freedom of expression.
– Mercedes Malavé ?? (@mercedesmalave) May 12, 2022
