Help Ban Conversion Therapy In The UK.
Today it's still legal for LGBTQIA+ people in the UK to be subjected to conversion therapy.
Conversion therapy is coercive and abhorrent and does not work. You cannot change an LGBTQIA+ person from being who they are, and to try to do so causes lasting damage.
Thanks to years of campaigning, the UK Government has now published detailed proposals to ban conversion therapy and a consultation seeking your views.
This is our chance to make sure the ban protects every LGBTQIA+ person from abuse. There must be no exemptions.
You can read more about the #banconversiontherpy project here.
How you can help.
Set aside 30-60 minutes to fill in the UK Government’s consultation before 10 December 2021.
OPEN THE CONSULTATION PAGE.
Only responses submitted through the UK Government portal will be considered.
I encourage you to write the response in your own words.
Key Information:
Who can participate?
Anyone aged 16 or over can respond to the consultation.
The UK Government’s legislation will only cover England and Wales.
However, responses from Scotland and Northern Ireland will be considered and will be sent to their respective national Governments to inform their own plans for a ban.
How long does it take?
There are 7 sections and 14 consultation questions. The guidelines for the consultation advise that it will take between 30-60 minutes. While you do not have to respond to all of the questions asked, it will help if you can give as much information as possible.
Will you need additional support?
There is a unique set of additional questions for survivors of conversion therapy. Survivors’ voices are crucial, and this may be a challenging task. You can find support here if you need it.
Why is taking part in the consultation important?
The short answer is that the government proposal is simply not robust enough to protect vulnerable members of the LGBTQ+ community. These are the key ways in which the current proposal falls short:
1. There is a loophole which would permit conversion therapy to continue where an adult ‘consents.’
The UK Government’s own research into conversion therapy shows that adults who said they consented to conversion therapy were not given full and unbiased information about the practice, were not informed of the risks it involved, and were not offered any alternative.
Conversion therapy causes serious psychological harm and happens in an environment of duress and power imbalance that makes consent meaningless.
2. The definition of conversion therapy does not cover suppressing as well as changing sexual orientation or gender identity.
It’s crucial that both attempts to change and suppress LGBTQIA+ people’s identities are banned in conversion therapy legislation.
Trying to force a person to never act or express their sexual orientation or gender identity is as much a form of conversion therapy as trying to change them, and just as abusive.
3. There is a lack of clarity about whether the proposals will protect everyone at risk.
It is unclear whether the ban would cover asexual and aromantic people. The UK Government’s National LGBT Survey found that asexual people are at a higher risk of being offered or undergoing conversion therapy (10%).
It is also unclear whether the UK Government considers non-binary people or intersex people as part of the protections for trans people.
The wording of the law must make clear that all LGBTQIA+ people are protected by the ban.
4. There is a lack of clarity about how conversion therapy in religious settings will be effectively banned.
Religious and faith-based conversion practices constitute the majority of conversion practices in the UK and internationally. The UK Government’s National LGBT Survey respondents were most likely to say that faith organisations had offered (53%) or conducted (51%) conversion therapy.
The UK Government’s commissioned research showed that religious conversion practices are mostly non-physical: prayer, Bible readings, healing, confession, faith declarations. The legislation must be clear these are banned when used as a form of conversion therapy.
The UK Government must reassert that Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights is absolute and trumps all other – freedom of speech and freedom of religion or belief cannot be used legally to justify torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, which conversion therapy is.
5. The proposals should make clear that gender transition services are not considered a form of conversion therapy.
The UK Government should make clear, either directly in legislation or in guidance accompanying a Bill, that gender transition services, gender transition healthcare and legitimate and explorative gender identity therapy are not forms of conversion therapy and therefore would not be an offence under its proposals.
Additional Resources:
Read the report on conversion therapy from the United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (IESOGI).
The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture deem conversion therapy as torture - read their full statement here.
All major UK medical organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding condemning the use of conversion therapy in all its forms.
Very interesting report from BMJ which includes “access barriers to transition healthcare” as a form of conversion therapy. This is an important clarification which, if taken seriously, will fully protect Trans people’s right to transition safely.
Royal College Paediatrics and Child Health published a crucial report which encourages an “affirming response” to supporting LGBTQ+ children as they come to terms with their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Ozanne Foundation conducted a National Faith & Sexuality Survey in 2018 which highlighted some important findings around conversion therapy and it’s prominence.
