News | May 2022 | 7
Conversion Therapy Ban :
Excluding Trans People
Image : Luigi Morris / shutterstock . com
Mental health organisation demands a conversion therapy ban to protect trans people after the UK Government drops them out of the new proposed ban .
The mental health organisation Minds demands that the new government ban on conversion therapy ban also includes a ban on trans conversion .
A petition to ensure trans people are protected under any conversion therapy ban currently has 140,450 signatures , more than the 100,000 signatures needed and is now waiting to be assigned a date for the Government to be debated .
After a leaked document from the end of March 2022 suggested that the UK Government had not gone ahead with a conversion therapy ban , the Prime Minister , Boris Johnson , quickly came out with a U-turn from the backlash he faced from the idea of dropping the conversion therapy ban . The ban comes after years of protest from LGBTQ + organisations across the country .
The bans that the UK Government has proposed on conversion therapy for gay , lesbians and bisexuals excludes trans people . NHS England has warned all forms of conversion therapy are ” unethical and potentially harmful ”. In an email , Labour MP Fleur Anderson replied ,” I agree that a total and unequivocal ban on conversion therapy must be implemented and will continue to push for it . There can be no space for loopholes ”. The MP then continued further down in her email , ” I believe that it is high time that legislation is introduced , such as protection orders for people who are vulnerable to pressure to suppress , deny or forcibly change their sexuality or gender identity .”
Paul Farmer , Chief Executive of Mind , said , ” we are deeply disappointed to see that the UK Government has chosen to exclude trans people from the ban on these harmful practices . The Government ’ s research suggests that trans people are much more likely to have undergone conversion therapy or been offered , so this exclusion simply makes no sense ”.
Although the UK Government said they would ban conversion in 2018 , no law has been passed . However , several other countries have since banned conversion therapy .
By Karoline Stinessen