The Labour government has just announced plans to push forward with a ban on conversion therapy, apparently to protect LGBT+ people from harm. Its proposed bill is unnecessary, unwanted and unhelpful.
Labour’s proposed bill is unnecessary, unwanted and unhelpful
Maybe that is a fitting epitaph to Keir Starmer in the last days of his administration. He might be gone in a few weeks, but this time bomb he plans to leave in his wake could ultimately cause immense harm, principally to young people who might otherwise grow up to be gay or lesbian.
There has been talk of a ban on conversion practices for almost a decade. Back in 2018, the then-Tory government’s LGBT Action Plan promised to ‘end the practice of conversion therapy in the UK.’ Three years later, a public consultation was launched. Only 6 per cent of respondents reported experience of what they considered to be conversion practices. Crucially, however, that glossed over a range of experiences, historic as well as current.
Let’s be clear: harmful and coercive practices are already illegal. For example, quacks who use violent methods in a vain attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation can be dealt with under existing legislation. And gay men can no longer be given electric shock treatments, as in years gone by.
