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Violent storms forecast for south-west France for Sunday afternoon
Eight departments placed on orange alert by Météo-France
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Drivers’ group warns over unsafe condition of French roads
40 Millions d’automobilistes calls on drivers to report potholes, cracked surfaces and collapsing verges via mobile app
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New direct ferry to link northern France and Ireland from June
Route between Cork and Boulogne-sur-Mer to run six times a week
Gay conversion therapy to be banned in France
Electric shocks and other treatment to try to “convert” young homosexuals will be banned if MPs back a new law being put to parliament.
What is conversion therapy?
The bill, which is waiting to be timetabled for debate in the Assemblée Nationale, would ban “conversion therapy” aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Allier MP Laurence Vanceunebrock-Mialon and Seine-Saint-Denis MP Bastien Lachaud led the bid to ban treatments, often aided by religious organisations, that they said covered “a broad spectrum of often insidious practices”.
Read more: New laws and changes in France, July 2020
A parliamentary fact-finding mission heard people who were victims or witnesses of exorcisms or who “learned the facts of rape” were often drugged and faced hypnosis, electric shocks and forced marriage. Homosexual aid group Le Refuge said it had 10 calls a month asking for help.
Read more: how attitudes to inequality have changed in France
