Conversion Therapy Ban- What's Happening?

Kaitlin Dryburgh

It seems that once again broken promises and poor policy plagues our politics. Both the Scottish and UK government have tried their hand at banning conversion therapy and neither have made too much progress. Conversion therapy is the controversial and un-proven process of trying to change an individual’s sexuality or gender identity. In most cases it is a non-consensual act, and many campaigners argue that it amounts to abuse rather than therapy, as they claim no one could ever fully consent to the practice. There are some very harrowing stories of what people have been subjected to as others have tried to ‘cure’ them of their sexuality but in other cases the therapy amounts to talking sessions. A Scottish Government survey found that 2% of all LGTBQ people asked had been subjected to a form of conversion therapy, where as a YouGov poll puts it higher at 7%, the numbers vary from survey to survey.

Theresa May announced back in 2018 that the UK government promises to ban conversion therapy as part of their LGBTQ Action Plan. This would bring them in line with the long list of other countries who have brought about legislation banning the practices.

Well their deadline is fast approaching so it doesn't seem they have much time left. Activists are quite rightly asking what’s happening, since to their surprise the promise to ban the practice wasn’t included in the most recent King’s speech. It seems that there has been a lot of disagreement on items such as definition, the form the legislation will take, and how far it’ll go to punish those in breach of it. The disagreements have been evident as the now disbanded LGBTQ advisory panel was riddled with resignations. Since the commitment was made five years ago four advisors have quit due to the delays of the ban and have accused the government of creating a hostile environment for LGBTQ people. Ellen Murray a former member of the panel upon quitting tweeted; “There’s precious little patience I have left for the government at this point, but with what remains: get your act together. Use the panel for what it was intended and actually prohibit conversion therapy”. This also came at a time when Liz Truss had decided that if it were to go ahead then it would exclude transgender people, much to the dismay of campaigners. It has become blaringly clear that Rishi Sunak is no longer committed to pursuing any form of legislative ban on conversion practices.

Support for a ban is prevalent and there are countless organisations who have asked for the practice to be outlawed. LGBTQ advocacy organisations such as Stonewall have demanded a ban for years. The Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of General Practitioners also support the ban, as well as 23 other healthcare and counselling organisations, and a YouGov survey found that two thirds of adults in the UK also support the ban. It is by no means an unpopular policy to go forward with, yet it seems the UK government has stalled on it.

But they’re not alone. A little after announcing that they plan to outlaw the practice the Scottish Government also recognised the public support for such legislation and started their own road to a legislative ban. However, that too seems to have stopped.

In their 2021-2022 programme for government they announced that they too aim to; “protect LGBT people from harm by banning the damaging promotion and practice of conversion therapy, bringing forward legislation that is as comprehensive as possible within devolved powers by the end of 2023, if UK Government proposals do not go far enough."

Considering it is now the end of November I think we can kiss that goodbye. The most recent programme for Government did however mention the progress on the ban and stated they were currently consulting on legislative proposals to end conversion therapy and aimed to publish a consultation response by the end of 2023. Which is a rather big downgrade considering the ban was supposed to be law by then but I think we can take that as a signal that any movement is officially on the back burner.  

Towards the end of 2022 an advisory group set up to explore the ending of conversion practices published their findings and it’s almost unclear what has happened since then. It seems that a consultation process has taken place and we should be receiving the outcome of that soon, however that doesn’t inspire much confidence either as the Scottish government’s aversion to listening to their consultations has become evident.

So although public support seems to be strong there is one large and influential group that is oppose to such a legislative ban, Christian based organisations. Now that’s not to say that all are opposed, or that all Christians are against a ban or even those opposed to a formal ban on conversion practices aren’t against conversion therapy in general. To many of these organisations such as the Christian Institute the wording and perhaps ambiguity of definitions of certain important aspects could leave parents in the firing line and in fact criminalise them. Other organisations such as the Free Church of Scotland also believe that this would interfere with the religious prayers, speech and leaders’ ability to preach. Aiden O’Neil KC called the proposals “fundamentally illiberal in intent”, arguing that the advisory group’s findings went to far, and there would be no such need for legislation to go that far, after all LGBTQ people are already protected by the equality act. Furthermore he claims this would subsequently make most “mainstream pastoral work” illegal. Perhaps more importantly he questions the legality of such ban, as he believes it would be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, article eight which protects family life and several others.

This threatens to repeat what happened when the Scottish Government introduced the idea of having a “named person” policy which was legally challenged by the Christian Institute and they have stated they intend to do the same thing again. The power and influence of these groups should not be underestimated even though almost 40% of the nation no longer identifies as religious. During the leadership contest earlier this year Kate Forbes' religion was under the spotlight as the debate between religion and politics was reignited for the first time in a while. Many were unaware that she had got her first break in politics due to a work placement with CARE a Christian lobby group which is anti-abortion and is not in favour of comprehensive LGBTQ rights. Hundreds of MSPS have met with anti-abortion and Christian rights groups in the past several years, while some groups that originated from the USA have ramped up activity in the UK and Scotland. There is still a great deal of power and influence behind these groups and whatever side you may fall on there's definitely a conversation to be had.

It is hard to say for sure how much influence groups such as the Christian Institute have had on postponing the conversion therapy ban but it seems that for now the issue is on the back burner.