Spain: Doctor to be sued after telling patient she could ‘cure’ his homosexuality
A doctor in Spain is to be sued after telling a young gay man she could “cure” his homosexuality, and that he was “too masculine” to get it into his head that he was gay.
25-year-old David Cámara visited a medical practitioner in Jaén, a city in Southern Spain, after he had been suffering from anxiety.
Mr Cámara suffered a loss of appetite, and was vomitting frequently, but his doctor suggested anxiety was not responsible for these symptoms.
Instead, she advised Mr Cámara to undergo a range of tests relating to his sexuality, explaining: “gay couples are prone to all sorts of illnesses”.
Mr Cámara told the Spanish newspaper El Diario: “The doctor told me I had to understand I was unnatural”.
She allegedly went on to say: “Haven’t you realized that you are too masculine to get it into your head that you are gay?”
Mr Cámara then told his doctor she was not being “professional.”
Offended, she recommended he see another doctor.
Mr Cámara said he now plans to sue the medical center.
The local health authorities deny his story, saying the doctor never “treated homosexuality as an illness.”
They said she had followed the correct procedures for his ailment and had been “respectful” in all of her dealings.
Gay support group Arco Iris Federation has demanded authorities investigate the issue.
State Federation of LGBT (FELGTB), Spain’s head LGBT organisation, has also offered its legal support to Mr Cámara.
Professor Gloria Casanova allegedly told journalism students during a class on religious ethics at Valencia’s Cardenal Herrera University, that gay people could be ‘cured’ of their sexuality.
