by Cameron Henderson, Telegraph
Campaigners say draft Conversion Practices Bill will criminalise honest conversations about transitioning
People who regret changing gender say they have been shut out of the debate on a proposed transgender law.
Several people who have lived as another gender but later changed their minds offered to give evidence to MPs and peers investigating Labour’s draft Conversion Practices Bill but were not invited to speak.
The Telegraph has launched a campaign to scrap the bill. The legislation threatens people with five years in prison for trying to change another person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
On Thursday, The Telegraph revealed that Stonewall, the controversial pro-trans charity, had been invited to No 10 to discuss the law and make recommendations to the MPs behind the draft legislation.
Michael Kerr, however, said his request to give evidence about the damaging effects of his transition had been ignored, leaving him “pushed aside and completely disregarded” by MPs. The 34-year-old reverted to his birth gender last year having lived as a woman since the age of 27.
The LGB Alliance wrote to the bill committee with a list of three people prepared to give evidence about the harms they had experienced as a result of changing gender, but The Telegraph understands none of them has been summoned by the committee.