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Any proposal to ban ‘conversion therapy’ raise serious free speech concerns

The UK Government has said it intends to publish a Conversion Therapy (Prohibition) Bill. The aim of the Bill will be to ban ‘conversion therapy’ which aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, raising concerns about its potential impact on free speech. The Free Speech Union encourages its members to write to their MPs, using our template letter, to express these concerns. While most agree that harmful practices like pseudo-scientific ‘treatments’ or ‘re-education’ camps should have no place in contemporary Britain, those practices are already against the law. So what is it, exactly, the bill will ban?

The main concern we have is that the definition of ‘conversion therapy’ that’s likely to be included in the bill, however tightly drafted, will be expanded during the Bill’s passage through Parliament to include benign conversations around sexuality or gender identity. This might result in criminalising personal advice, parental guidance, or religious teachings.

The possibility that the ban might include conversations between parents and children about gender identity is particularly concerning. We worry that the Bill will be amended on its way to becoming law so parents could face legal action for dissuading their children from undergoing significant medical procedures. Similarly, medical professionals might be obligated to dismiss advice they believe to be in the best interest of their trans patients, such as urging them to pause and reflect.

Given the severity of these implications, the Free Speech Union is urging members to write to their MPs to highlight these concerns. We need to make sure that freedom of speech remains protected, particularly in sensitive and potentially life-altering circumstances.

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Here’s how you can take action

We strongly urge you to voice your concerns about any proposed ‘conversion therapy’ ban by reaching out to your local MP.

While certain harmful practices should indeed be banned, this legislation could infringe on free speech, parental rights, and the ability of medical professionals to provide appropriate care. It’s essential that we communicate these concerns to our representatives to ensure they understand the potential ramifications and take them into account during the legislative process.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the form below. It’s a simple, fast process that can have a significant impact. We’ve even provided a template to help, but feel free to personalise it with your concerns. Your voice matters and this is an important opportunity to make it heard.

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Dear {{name}},

I am writing to express my concern about the proposed ban on conversion therapy. 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 consultation 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.” However, the Conversion Therapy (Prohibition) Bill threatens to 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 must not 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 even more 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 Secretary of State for Business and Trade 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 attempted to dissuade their 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. While the Bill has been carefully drafted to minimise this risk, there is a danger it may be amended as it goes through parliament to bring such conversations within scope.

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 – could fall foul of a ban on ‘conversion therapy’. In this way, the Bill could force medical professionals to rule out treatments that they believe are in the best interests of some of their trans patients – forcing them to break their Hippocratic Oath. 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 the bill 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 child.

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 <i>Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</i>, 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 permanently changing their bodies?

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 ends up being defined too widely in this Bill it will have a negative impact on the free speech of religious leaders, medical professionals and parents and, in some cases, that could lead to children undergoing life-changing medical treatments that they later come to regret.

As your constituent, I am asking you to scrutinise this Bill very carefully and make sure the risks it poses to free speech are avoided.

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Any proposal to ban ‘conversion therapy’ raise serious free speech concerns

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