Victims of gay conversion therapy should come forward and file an official complaint as this was the only way to proceed against “unethical” therapists, the head of the board regulating psychologists said.

Christiane Sullivan, who chairs the Malta Psychology Profession Board, told Times of Malta gay conversion therapy was unacceptable and could result in psychologists having their license suspended.

She was commenting following a report by this newspaper about a gay man who claimed that he had been subjected to conversion therapy during sessions with a Maltese psychologist with ties to a Maltese evangelist movement.

The victim told Times of Malta that psychologist Mariella Blackman, wife of River of Love founder Gordon Manché, had tried to link his same sex attraction to feelings of repulsion. He said the therapist had likened his homosexuality to bestiality, breaking up his family and driving him close to suicide in the process.

The claims were strongly denied by Ms Blackman who described them as “lies from the pit of hell”, including allegations that her husband had attended one session to perform an exorcism-style intervention on the young man.

Ms Sullivan said the board had received no complaints of this kind of therapy being conducted in Malta despite the Malta Gay Rights Movement saying it had evidence of at least two people who were claiming to have been subjected to such treatment.

She said the board had strongly condemned such therapy in the past and would begin investigating the minute a complaint was filed.

The government is drafting legislation to criminalise conversion therapy and a first draft of the Bill is expected by the end of the year.

Asked about the planned reform, Ms Sullivan said the board would consult with Family Minister Michael Farrugia on the matter

Questions sent to Dr Farrugia were still unanswered at the time of writing.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.