Scots ‘conversion practices’ ban proposals worst so far
by Carys Moseley, Christian Concern:
Proposals for ending ‘LGBT conversion practices’ in Scotland were published last Tuesday by an Expert Panel advising the Scottish government. The report assumes a radical misinterpretation of children’s rights and denies that its recommendations infringe religious freedom and freedom of expression. These policy proposals amount to the worst in the world so far. Overall they would criminalise prayer, consensual conversations, quoting certain Bible passages, and some preaching among other things. This amounts to a shocking infringement of fundamental freedoms.
Here, I will outline the most important recommendations. They span both criminal and civil law.
Extending domestic abuse law beyond the home
The report proposes that the law on coercive control, a crime under domestic abuse law, should be extended to cover ‘conversion practices’. It complains that domestic abuse legislation only covers control by ‘partners’ or ‘ex-partners’.
The problem is that the report overall implicitly targets ‘conversion practices’ in all kinds of settings – not only people’s homes – including ‘organisations’, i.e. churches, schools, hospitals, etc., and both the private (charitable and business) and public sectors. Thus, the law on coercive control would effectively be extended to all settings in Scotland. Such a move, making domestic abuse law the basis for legislation across the entire private and public sectors, is unprecedented anywhere in the world.
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