The Government’s draft bill to ban abusive conversion practices in England and Wales is a long overdue and significant step towards protecting people from these unethical and harmful interventions.
The inclusivity of the bill, which covers all ages and aims to protect everyone within the LGBQT+ community who’s at risk of harm from conversion practices, is especially important. This reflects one of the key asks of our decades long campaign for such a ban.
We strongly oppose the misuse of counselling or psychotherapy to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Everyone should be able to access therapeutic help without fear of judgement or pressure to change who they are.
The draft bill also provides safeguards for legitimate healthcare and therapy and sets thresholds to protect open conversations and free speech.
We’ve long called for a ban on conversion practices that's inclusive, effective, and workable, and that doesn’t lead to unintended consequences around therapists’ ability to work with gender and sexually diverse clients.
Significant moment
Despite a ban on conversion practices being discussed for many years, this is a significant moment as it’s the first time the Government has brought forward draft legislation on this issue.
The draft bill states that someone found guilty of abusive conversion practices could face an unlimited fine, a custodial sentence of up to five years, or both.
The bill will now be scrutinised by a committee formed of Parliamentarians from the House of Commons and Lords.
We’ll be reviewing the language and detail of the Bill closely as part of the Memorandum of understanding on conversion therapy in the UK, and will be working with a range of partners to ensure the definitions, wording and measures in the final bill translate into the best legislation possible.
Once the pre-legislative scrutiny has been completed, the Bill will be formally be introduced to Parliament to go through its full legislative process, before becoming law.
It’s essential that these protections are available across the UK and we urge the Government in Scotland and Executive in Northern Ireland to urgently bring forward their own legislation to outlaw conversion practices.