U.K. government seeks to ban ‘conversion therapy’

Pride flag.

The U.K. government on Thursday published long-awaited draft legislation that, if passed by MPs, would ban so-called “conversion therapy” which claims to change someone’s sexual orientation.

Under the U.K. bill, which still needs to be scrutinized in parliament, those carrying out an “abusive conversion practice” could face a criminal conviction and up to five years in jail.

Conversion therapy is an umbrella term for interventions aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity -- usually targeting LGBTQ people -- based on a belief that it is possible to do so.

The European Union in May urged member states to ban such practices, while stopping short of prohibiting them itself. The United Nations has also called for a worldwide ban.

The British government said the bill, which would only apply to England and Wales, criminalizes “abuse” causing “serious harm” to physical or mental health or “serious alarm or distress.”

It defines conversion therapy as intending to make someone have or believe they have a particular sexual orientation, including through physical or emotional pressure.

It would not punish those providing health care services, unless they were “far below” the expected standard.

The bill specifies that it would cover behaviour aimed at persuading someone they do not have a transgender identity.

It has already faced criticism from opponents of medical gender change treatment for children.

Toby Jones, founder of The Free Speech Union, said in a video on X that “our fear is it wants to stop parents and medical professionals trying to talk confused children out of embarking on irreversible medical pathways.”

The bill would aim to protect those who are proposing to undergo gender reassignment, are transsexual or do not identify as solely male or female, the government said.

It allows a court to issue a protection order against an abuser.

Openly gay Labour MP Peter Swallow wrote on X he was “delighted”, saying “conversion therapy is torture.”

The Stonewall campaign group hailed the publication as a “historic and long overdue step”.

“Lives have been altered and ruined because of conversion practices,” the group said in a statement.

“The fact that they have remained legal in the U.K. for so long is a huge injustice.”

The British government has long stalled on passing legislation to ban the practice.

Such therapy has been widely discredited and outlawed by a number of EU countries including France and Spain.

It was banned by the U.K.’s main associations of psychologists and psychiatrists in 2015 as “unethical and potentially harmful.”