On Thursday 25th June 2026, the Government published their long-awaited draft Bill to ban conversion practices. You can read the full draft Bill and explanatory notes here.

We have been carefully reviewing the draft legislation. This is the start of a long process and we’re taking time to properly understand the strengths and weaknesses of the draft Bill.

So how would the proposed criminal offence work?

The draft Bill defines conversion practices as any conduct carried out by a person towards an individual with the intention of causing the individual to have or not to have, to believe that they have or do not have, a sexual orientation (or a particular sexual orientation) or a transgender identity (or a particular transgender identity).

For a conversion practice to be considered a criminal offence under this legislation it must amount to “abuse of the individual”, and cause “serious harm to the individual’s physical or mental health” or “serious alarm or distress which has a substantial adverse effect on the individual’s day-to-day activities”.

• This might imply that there are some forms of conversion practices the Government considers non-abusive which is concerning and warrants serious further discussion.

• However, the draft Bill employs a broad, non-exhaustive list of features for determining the nature of the conduct.

• Initial legal analysis suggests documented conversion practices are likely to be considered abusive under this framework. This will be a key point to examine throughout pre-legislative scrutiny to ensure all documented forms of conversion practices are criminalised.

Serious physical harm is equivalent to actual bodily harm and serious mental harm is equivalent to psychiatric injury (e.g. PTSD and clinical depression). ‘Serious alarm or distress’ means a substantial adverse impact on a person’s ability to live their everyday life (e.g. social isolation, inability to work) and is comparable to the threshold set out for controlling or coercive behaviour in the Serious Crime Act 2015.

Who will this draft legislation protect?

The provisions of the draft legislation apply to both sexual orientation and gender identity.

The definitions of sexual orientation and transgender identity include asexual and non-binary people. If passed, this would be the first time specific legal protections are introduced for these groups.

The legislation does not only protect LGBTQ+ people, it applies irrespective of the sexuality or gender identity that is being targeted.

• If someone intended to change a straight person into a gay person, this would be considered a conversion practice.

• This is known as a universal ban and is not an unusual approach for conversion practice legislation - universal bans were introduced in France, Malta, Germany, Greece, and Norway.

What do the clauses on healthcare mean?

The draft legislation specifies that conduct carried out in the course of providing health care services is not a conversion practice unless the perpetrator “acts in a way that falls far below the standards reasonably expected of a person in their position”.

The Government’s stated intent is to allow professionals to continue to offer medical, psychological, or other therapeutic support to LGBTQ+ people.

• This includes providing gender-affirming care or having an open, exploratory conversation with an individual about their sexual orientation or identity.

• These will not be considered a conversion practice under the draft Bill.

The draft Bill does not prevent anyone claiming to provide healthcare services from being prosecuted for carrying out conversion practices.

• Any conduct that “falls far below the standards reasonably expected” of someone’s profession, will be captured in this offence.

• This is equivalent to a threshold of gross negligence.

The draft Bill defines healthcare services broadly, including regulated and unregulated providers.

• This has raised concerns that pseudo-scientific actors claiming to provide mental health support will be able to evade prosecution for carrying out conversion practices.

Making sure these clauses strikes the correct balance will be a key point for pre-legislative scrutiny.

• It must criminalise those in healthcare services who do perpetrate abuse and those who offer pseudo-scientific so-called ‘therapy’, which causes proven harm.

• It must also protect and reassure healthcare professionals providing legitimate mental and/or physical healthcare to LGBTQ+ people.

Are there any loopholes?

The draft Bill does not explicitly include a loophole on consent or offences taking place in religious settings. However greater scrutiny is needed to understand whether more detail is needed to make the legislation watertight.

• Concerns have been raised that the framing of the criminal offence leaves open a loophole for adults who have ‘consented’ to undergo ‘non-abusive’ conversion practices.

• To ensure the draft Bill does not leave open a consent loophole, changes may need to specify that consent is not a legal defence for conversion practices. This has been done in other jurisdictions, such as New Zealand and Victoria, Australia.

• More detail may also be needed to clarify that offences in all religious settings must be captured.

What are Conversion Practice Protection Orders?

The draft legislation also sets out provisions for courts to issue conversion practice protection orders. A protection order is a legal measure designed to keep a person away from another with the aim to protect them from harm. In the UK protective orders can be issued by the courts in cases of domestic abuse, forced marriage and stalking. This is a really positive inclusion in the Bill, and not something that has been included in conversion practice legislation elsewhere around the world.

A conversion practice protection order has the purpose of protecting an individual who is at risk of being subjected to an abusive conversion practice (whether performed in England and Wales or elsewhere) or protecting the victim of an offence which has already been (or is being) committed.

What happens next?

The draft Bill will be examined by a joint committee of MPs and Lords in a process known as pre-legislative scrutiny. They will take around 3-4 months to listen to evidence, scrutinise the draft legislation, and make recommendations to the Government.

The Government will consider their recommendations and may amend the draft legislation.

A Bill would then be presented in Parliament, where it will go through all the usual stages of debate.

Over the next few months, we will continue to work with communities, legal experts, parliamentarians and government to raise our concerns.

Rest assured that we will be keeping up the pressure to ensure this draft Bill delivers robust and effective protections for all LGBTQ+ people.

To support our campaign, let us know why this legislation matters to you by taking our survey: