Church of Scotland General Assembly backs calls for ban on conversion therapy

May 25, 2022 by Jill

from Christian Today:

The governing body of the Church of Scotland has backed calls for a ban on conversion therapy.

Meeting in Edinburgh on Tuesday, the General Assembly approved a statement endorsing the ‘Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy in the UK’.

The statement notes “that the Methodist Conference have supported and adopted this definition and the Church of England General Synod have endorsed a similar statement”.

The memorandum defines conversion therapy as “an umbrella term for a therapeutic approach, or any model or individual viewpoint that demonstrates an assumption that any sexual orientation or gender identity is inherently preferable to any other, and which attempts to bring about a change of sexual orientation or gender identity, or seeks to suppress an individual’s expression of sexual orientation or gender identity on that basis”.

The memorandum describes such practices as “harmful” and is backed by a number of health, counselling and psychotherapy organisations, including the Association of Christian Counsellors.

Read here