Therapy and the law. The technical considerations for the Government as it plans a conversion therapy ban
by Charlotte Gill, Conservative Home:
The Government has been under growing pressure to ban conversion therapy. The British Psychological Society defines this as “therapy that assumes certain sexual orientations or gender identities are inferior to others, and seeks to change or suppress them on that basis.” It is widely and historically recognised as a traumatic practice that can lead to depression and increase the risk of suicide among people offered such “treatments”.
What’s the Government’s position on conversion therapy?
In 2018, Theresa May’s government proposed to ban “gay conversion therapies” in England by using legislation if necessary. But this has not happened yet. Earlier this month, three of the Government’s LGBT advisers resigned from their posts, citing the inaction on conversion therapy as one reason for this.
In 2020 Kemi Badenoch, the Equalities Minister, said that enacting a ban was a “very complex issue” and Boris Johnson, who later called the practice “absolutely abhorrent”, also said it was “technically complex”. ConservativeHome has tried to highlight what these complexities might be, and the existing rules, below:
What is the current law on conversion therapy?
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