LONDON – Britain will seek to ban conversion therapy aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, cracking down on so-called treatments that claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Culture Minister Michelle Donelan said on Tuesday the government would publish a bill soon, putting forward proposals to ban conversion practices in England and Wales.
“The bill will protect everyone, including those who are targeted for their sexuality or for being transgender,” Donelan said in a statement.
Conversion practices, which can include extreme or harmful methods, are intended to suppress or prevent a person from being homosexual or from existing in a different gender than that registered at birth. A 2017 national LGBTQ survey found that 5% of respondents had been offered conversion therapy and 2% had done so, with more than half done by religious groups.
The British government said in 2021 that it would introduce a conversion therapy ban for LGBTQ people to prevent “abhorrent practices that can cause mental and physical harm,” but later decided that the ban only covers lesbian, gay or bisexual people.
Donelan said on Tuesday that the bill will aim to cover transgender people as well, and that the government will request a pre-legislative scrutiny of the bill by a joint committee.
Many advocates have long called for a ban on conversion therapy, but others have argued that any ban should not prohibit conversations with doctors or therapists who help people with gender issues.
“Legislation should not, for lack of clarity, harm the growing number of children and young adults experiencing gender-related distress, by inadvertently criminalizing or chilling legitimate conversations parents or doctors may have with their children.” Donelan said.
More than two dozen health and counseling groups signed an updated memorandum of understanding last year, agreeing that «conversion therapy, whether in relation to sexual orientation or gender identity, is unethical and potentially harmful.» .
Separately, Britain said on Monday it would block a bill passed by Scotland’s devolved parliament that makes it easier for people to legally change their gender.