In our fourth episode, Dimithri Wijesinghe, a legal advisor of Bridge to Equality Collective, talks about conversion therapy practices in Sri Lanka: "Many parents, out of concern, feel that their child needs to be subject to this [conversion therapy] so that they can lead a normal life. That is kind of the broad understanding. So as a result of that, there's a lot of…places where you can go to subject your child or even yourself to a conversion therapy. What happens in our country now with the doctors specifically is, they would prescribe a combination of medication for depression and sleeping pills, and encourage by saying 'keep [taking] this medication and eventually you will feel normal.'" Dimithri also points out the importance of legal protection from “conversion therapy” practices, especially in a country where consensual same-sex sexual relations are still criminalised: "So there is no law that endorses it, but I think a protection bill would be the best thing. We still have our 365A and 365, which are our colonial laws criminalising homosexuality, [which are] very much active still...because of that, the mindset still remains.”

Listen to their full story in the video below, and stay tuned for more stories of conversion therapy in Asia.