Sometimes it seems like the clock is turning back. When we thought that certain debates were surpassed by science and human rights, we come across realities that force us to remain alert. Dear reader, today at Rainbow we focus on a worrying news that has shaken the community: the Valencia Prosecutor’s Office has a request on its table to investigate an academic program that, allegedly, pathologizes our identities.
The organizations FELGTBI+ and Lambda València have decided to take action after the revelations published by the Levante newspaper. The center of the controversy is this UCV master’s degree in Marriage and Family Sciences taught by the Catholic University of Valencia (UCV). The reason? Certain contents of the syllabus could be endorsing the so-called “conversion therapies.”
What is taught under academic protection?
According to journalistic research, this postgraduate degree describes any orientation or identity that deviates from the cisheterosexual norm as an “objective disorder.” And what is more serious: it suggests that this supposed condition requires some type of intervention.
Dressing an ideology that considers diversity sick in academic rigor is not only an anachronism, but a real danger. Giving the appearance of science to what the United Nations openly classifies as a form of torture is crossing a very dangerous red line in a democratic society.
The voice of activism: Mental health and human rights
LGTBIQ+ entities have not been slow to raise their voices to denounce the deep psychological damage that this type of speech generates.
- The risk of pathologization: Paula Iglesias, at the head of the FELGTBI+, has been blunt in remembering that teaching in classrooms that LGTBIQ+ people need to be “corrected” has devastating effects. It is a direct attack on a vulnerable group that, unfortunately, increases the risk of suicide.
- Anti-scientific practices: For his part, Fran Fernández, general coordinator of Lambda, has pointed out the inconsistency of a university supporting currents that turn their backs on international scientific evidence, stigmatizing about 15% of the population.
Furthermore, the associative movement has taken the opportunity to remember its hope that the Constitutional Court will admit the appeal against the recent reform of the Trans Valencian Law, which, they warn, could be opening legal loopholes to practices contrary to our rights.
Proper names and works under the magnifying glass
The controversy worsens when looking at who is in charge. The uncovered information points to Juan Andrés Talens, a member of the clergy and dean of studies for this master’s degree. His name had already appeared in previous testimonies linked to a Family Guidance Center (COF) where, allegedly, these false therapies were carried out.
The most thorny point revealed by the newspaper points to a Master’s Final Project tutored by Talens himself. In this document, not only was homosexuality wrongly linked to pedophilia, but it even proposed the administration of drugs to repress people’s sexual orientation.
A moment for reflection
This situation forces us to stop and ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions, reader. Where does academic freedom end and where does the violation of human rights begin? Should public institutions exercise more extensive control over university curricula to ensure that illegal practices are not promoted? We are not facing a simple cultural war or a debate of ideas, but rather a matter of public health and compliance with the law. Education should be a refuge of knowledge, not a laboratory to try to erase who we are.
