BERLIN ¨C Germany moved a step closer to banning so-called gay conversion therapies Wednesday, as the Cabinet backed a law that would punish bogus practitioners with up to a year in prison.

Activists hailed the move, saying Germany would become the first major European power to outlaw attempts to change a person¡¯s sexual orientation with techniques including hypnotism and electro-shock treatment.

¡°Homosexuality is not an illness. So the term therapy in itself is misleading,¡± Health Minister Jens Spahn ¡ª a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel¡¯s centre-right Christian Democrats ¡ª said in a statement.

The treatments ¡ª sometimes carried out by relatives or religious counsellors ¡ª caused severe mental and physical harm, he added. ¡°This alleged therapy makes you sick and not healthy,¡± Spahn said.

The legislation, which parliament is expected to pass by the summer, will punish violations with imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to €30,000 ($33,100).

An estimated 1,000 people are subjected to ¡°conversion therapies¡± every year in Germany, according to the Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, a Berlin-based organization that fights discrimination.

A spokesman for the foundation said that Germany was set to become the first major European country to ban ¡°conversion therapies,¡± adding that Berlin¡¯s decision could motivate other industrialized countries to follow suit.

Brazil, Ecuador, Malta and just over a dozen U.S. states have outlawed conversion therapy, according to the ILGA, a network of LGBT rights groups. Countries including Britain, New Zealand and Australia are considering bans.

About 700,000 Americans have been forced to undergo a form of conversion therapy, according to the Williams Institute at the University of California.

In Britain, a fifth of gay, lesbian and bisexual people who have tried to change their sexuality have attempted suicide, according to a study by the Ozanne Foundation released in February.