Government fails to meet timeline to ban conversion practices
The Government has failed to meet its own timeline to publish a draft Bill to ban conversion practices. Yesterday’s prorogation of Parliament marks the end of the parliamentary session, and the deadline for the government to meet their commitment set out in the King's Speech.
Conversion practices include any medical, psychiatric, psychological, religious, cultural or any other interventions that seek to change, “cure”, or suppress the sexual orientation and/or gender identity of a person, based on the assumption that any sexual orientation or gender identity is inherently preferable to any other.
These harmful practices continue to cause profound harm and suffering to LGBTQ+ people. The National LGBT+ survey found that 7 per cent of LGBT people have been offered or undergone “conversion therapy” and the Trevor Project found that nearly 1 in 6 LGBTQ+ young people in the UK reported being threatened with or subjected to conversion practices.
Ian , who experienced years of conversion practices said:
“The damage conversion practices did to me was enormous, it destroyed my self-confidence, created inner turmoil and conflict and impacted my mental health. For a long time, I minimised what I had been through and the effect it had on me.
“The fact that the Government has failed on its commitment to publish a draft Bill by the end of the parliamentary session appalls and angers me. Conversion practices need to be stopped, and they need to be stopped now. The delay has been too long already."
Legislation to ban these harmful practices was first promised by Theresa May back in 2018. Since then, successive Governments have also promised – and failed – to deliver. A commitment to ban conversion practices was included in the Labour Party's 2024 manifesto, and a commitment to publish a draft bill was in the 2024 King's Speech.
Despite this, no draft Bill has been brought forward as the session concludes. Stonewall and the Ban Conversion practices coalition are continuing to campaign for a fully inclusive ban that protects LGBTQ+ people from this harm and are now calling on the Government to publish a draft Bill before summer recess.
Saba Ali, Chair of the Ban Conversion Practices Coalition, said:
“I am deeply disappointed that the Government has failed to deliver on its commitment to publish a draft Bill to ban conversion practices before the end of the parliamentary session. We have been promised this legislation for more than seven years; that’s seven years of broken promises.
“Conversion practices are abuse and they continue to cause profound harm and suffering to LGBTQ+ people across the UK. They have destroyed many lives, perpetuating the notion that LGBTQ+ people need ‘fixing or to be cured’. Every day that passes without a ban in place leaves LGBTQ+ people at risk of harm.
“We urgently need a fully inclusive and comprehensive ban on conversion practices; it has already been delayed far too long. Pride Month is just around the corner, and hopefully it’s the last one we celebrate without published legislation. As Chair of the Ban Conversion Practices Coalition, I’m calling on the Government to act now and show the LGBTQ+ community that they stand with them. We will not give up hope, our campaign continues and we will not stop until we see decisive action.”
Stonewall and the Ban Conversion practices coalition are leading the campaign to ban these harmful practices once and for all and are calling on the Government to take decisive action before summer recess at the latest.