A report that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has “completely killed” plans to change the law around so-called ‘conversion therapy’ is false, writes Michael Curzon for The European Conservative.
“Britain’s Conservative government continues to view conversion therapy—therapy to overcome homosexual attraction or to preserve someone’s biological gender identity—as ‘abhorrent’ and will bring forward legislation to ban it “shortly,” despite reports to the contrary,” he continues.
Political blog Guido Fawkes put out a story on April 9th claiming that “Sunak completely kills off gay conversion therapy ban.” The website also claimed that Sunak “has let [a ban on transgender conversion therapy] die” by “cutting it off” at the first legislative stage.
But a government spokesperson told The European Conservative that its position “remains” the same. They said:
No one in this country should be harmed or harassed for who they are and attempts at so-called ‘conversion therapy’ are abhorrent.
As set out, we have rightly taken time to carefully consider this very complex issue and we will shortly bring forward a draft Bill to Parliament. This remains our position.
Critics have pointed out that a ban on transgender conversion therapy, which is also being pursued in Scotland, could criminalise legitimate conversations between parents and their children. But reports suggest the Conservatives are pushing forward regardless for fear that they will otherwise “lose votes from the LGBTQ community.”
