Dr Hilary Cass: Conversion therapy ban risks ‘frightening’ clinicians off
by Alistair Grant, The Scotsman:
A proposed ban on conversion therapy in Scotland risks “frightening” clinicians off from working with young people who identity as trans, the author of a landmark review has said.
Dr Hilary Cass said the idea of being a “test case” was making clinicians “even more anxious, potentially, about working in this area”. The Scottish Government previously consulted on plans to ban conversion practices, which are defined as attempts to change or suppress the gender identity or sexual orientation of another person.
This included potentially introducing new laws to criminalise “the most serious and harmful” examples, with jail sentences of up to seven years for the worst offenders.
Dr Cass was asked about the issue as she gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s health committee on Tuesday. She said: “This one is a big challenge, and all I can say is I’m glad I’m a doctor and not a litigator, because it is a really difficult problem. Everyone should be protected from conversion therapy – it’s a completely unacceptable practice.
“But because, thinking about the legislation, the issue has been about intent – and if a therapist engages with a young person and they change their views about their gender identity during the course of that therapeutic relationship, and then they subsequently say it was because the therapist had an intent to change their gender identity, that puts the therapist in a difficult position, because how can you legally determine intent?
“The anxiety that you may be the test case is making clinicians even more anxious, potentially, about working in this area, and we don’t want to do anything to frighten professionals off from working in this.
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