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Dear {{MP}},

I am writing to express my concern about the proposed ban on conversion therapy which, while not in the King’s Speech, is still a live risk. I oppose all coercive or violent attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and it is right that, as the Government’s own 2021 briefing on conversion therapy put it: “Our existing criminal law framework means that conversion therapy amounting to offences of physical or sexual violence is already illegal in this country.” Any attempt to define ‘conversion therapy’ more widely and then introduce legislation to ban it would have negative consequences for freedom of speech, particularly in relation to gender identity.

To begin with, I am concerned about the impact of such a ban on the freedom of speech of religious leaders, e.g., the bill could make it a criminal offence for a religious leader to tell a member of their congregation that homosexuality is a ‘sin’ or ‘haram’. In the state of Victoria in Australia, which banned conversion therapy in 2021, it is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to £100,000 for a religious leader to have a one-to-one conversation with a member of their congregation in which they pressurise them to practice celibacy rather than act on their feelings of same-sex attraction.

The prospect of the state prohibiting, on pain of imprisonment, what a religious leader is able to say to a member of their faith about what their religion teaches about homosexuality is alarming enough. But just as worrying is the prospect that conversations between parents and children about their gender identity will be caught by the new law.

As Kemi Badenoch, the International Trade Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, has pointed out, it’s possible that a poorly drafted bill would bring conversations between parents and their children within scope of the ban, effectively meaning parents who tried to dissuade their gender confused children from having risky medical treatments could be prosecuted. In the state of Victoria, for instance, it’s a crime for a parent to refuse to support their child’s request for puberty blockers because that is supposedly a form of ‘conversion therapy’ – trying to ‘convert’ their child from transgendered to cisgendered.

The risk is that various legitimate alternatives – such as referring a young person with a history of mental illness who identifies as trans to a psychotherapist before they decide to embark on an irreversible medical pathway, or simply encouraging them to pause and reflect – might fall foul of a ban on ‘conversion therapy’. In this way, a poorly drafted bill would force medical professionals to rule out treatments they believe are in the best interests of some of their trans patients. Former clinicians at the Tavistock Clinic have reported that they were subject to unfounded accusations of ‘transphobia’ for recommending a ‘watchful waiting’ approach and there is a risk that a bill banning ‘conversion therapy’ would criminalise such advice. Doctors have both a right and a duty to recommend what in their judgment is the best clinical pathway for a patient who identifies as trans, particularly if that patient is a minor.

This is important, given that research on and around gender identity is still in its infancy, and it cannot be ruled out that in some cases identifying as trans may be symptomatic of a mental disorder – ‘gender dysphoria’ still appears in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the Bible of the American psychiatric profession.

Nor can it be ruled out that an adolescent who identifies as trans and wants to embark on transitioning is simply being swept along by a trend within their peer group or on social media. If they are not persuaded to wait before undergoing a life-changing medical procedure, such as a double mastectomy, they may come to regret it. Is it really in the best interests of such adolescents to criminalise attempts by parents or clinicians to make them pause and reflect before embarking on such surgery?

In spite of the absence of a conversion therapy ban in the King’s Speech, the LGBT lobby is still pushing hard for one. It looks likely that either the Labour Party, or a Conservative MP who’s been lobbying for a ban, will try to amend another bill in the coming weeks, tagging on a conversion therapy ban. In response, the Prime Minister may offer to publish a draft bill so it can go through pre-legislative scrutiny and be ‘oven ready’ after the General Election. I think that’s extremely dangerous – it would make a conversion therapy ban inevitable, whoever wins that election.

The Government believes it can publish a bill including a clause that safeguards against this risk – it would ban the conversion of LGBs but not Ts. But I think this is naïve. Such a clause probably wouldn’t survive the pre-legislative scrutiny phase, given the influence of the LGBT lobby in the House of Commons. My worry is that the Prime Minister, faced with an amendment to another bill banning conversion therapy, would compromise by publishing a draft bill and then have a committee scrutinise it so it is ‘oven ready’ and the next Government can take it through Parliament. Given how powerful the LGBT lobby is, that ‘oven ready’ bill would inevitably look a lot like the Victorian conversion therapy ban and would then sail through after the General Election. Much better not to let this particular genie out of the bottle.

I am not in principle opposed to a ban on conversion therapy, although I have yet to be persuaded that the sort of practices that should be banned, such as attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through pseudo-scientific quack ‘treatments’, are not already illegal. But I believe there is a serious risk that if conversion therapy is defined too widely by this Government or the next one it will have a negative impact on the free speech of religious leaders, medical professionals and parents. In some cases, that could lead to children undergoing life-changing medical treatments that they later come to regret.

As your constituent, I hope you will vote against any amendments trying to include a conversion therapy ban in another bill and urge the Prime Minister not to compromise with the powerful LGBT lobby by publishing a draft bill banning conversion therapy.

Yours Sincerely,

Address: {{ADDRESS}}

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