Our pastoral talk on conversion therapy ban is none of Whitehall’s business

Dec 19, 2021 by Jill

by Andrea Williams, TCW:

LAST week more than 2,000 church leaders, including many from the Church of England, signed an open letter to Equalities Secretary Liz Truss declaring that they are prepared to be criminalised if the Government goes ahead with a conversion therapy ban.

The Equalities Office responded by saying: ‘We recognise that for people of faith, the support of their religious leaders and communities can be vital.

‘The ban will not stop religious leaders from offering their support on issues around sexual orientation and transgender identity. It will only cover those who seek to change a person to be something they are not, rather than offering impartial support. The freedom to express the teachings of any religion will not be affected by the ban.’

My response to this, as chief executive of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre, is that Henry Ford said that a customer could have a car in any colour so long as it was black. This Government equalities spokesperson took a similar approach while trying to reassure church leaders about a conversion therapy ban.

Yes, it is nice to see it acknowledged that for people of faith ‘the support of their religious leaders and communities can be vital’. But when it is qualified by a statement like ‘the ban will only cover those who seek to change a person to be something they are not’, we are left with no meaningful reassurances at all.

Who gets to define the real identity of the person seeking counselling or support? Does the five-year-old male who claims to be a girl immediately become one? Is a 13-year-old female’s self-identification as ‘puzzlegender’ (someone who feels their gender needs to be pieced together like a puzzle) a sacred statement that may not be challenged within pastoral support or therapy?

‘Gender identity’ by definition is divorced from the observable reality of sex. There is no way to test whether someone ‘is’ trans, because gender identity belongs solely to the realm of ideas. A ban that enshrines gender identity as who someone objectively is, rather than how they wish to be treated, is all ideology.

Being ‘gay’ or ‘straight’ also has no objective test, apart from in describing a person’s behaviour at a moment in time. ‘Born gay’ too is ideology divorced from reality. There is no genetic test to prove a person’s sexuality.

Since sexual attraction is well known to be fluid over time, how can we possibly judge whether a pastor was helping a straight person discover their straightness or ‘seeking to change a person to be something they are not’?

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