MPs urge government to move forward with laws to ban LGBTQ conversion therapy
PM Boris Johnson described the practise as "abhorrent" last year - but there has been little to no movement since
Words: Jamie Tabberer; picture: Pixabay
MPs have called on the British government to move forward with banning conversion therapy.
The practise covers a range of debunked treatments that attempt to change a person’s sexuality and/or gender identify in the belief they can be ‘cured’.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the practise “abhorrent” last year, while former PM Theresa May, speaking in 2018, vowed to eradicate it completely. However, there has been little movement on the issue since.
“Understandably impacted”
The chair of the Commons Liaison Committee Sir Bernard Jenkin said the government must “prioritise” the matter, after coronavirus “understandably” delayed it.
In a letter the Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative MP for Harwich and North Essex explained: “The government’s programme has been understandably impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“But now that this is closer to being under control, we would urge the government to deliver on its commitments to and demands from select committees on other vitally important legislation which committees are keen to see brought forward.”
He added: “The Petitions Committee continues to receive two very popular petitions on two issues where the government has committed to acting, but legislation is yet to be introduced, on proposals for stronger sentences for drivers who kill or seriously injure and on banning the practice of conversion therapy.”
In the UK, ‘all major counselling and psychotherapy bodies’, as well as the NHS, have concluded that conversion therapy is dangerous, say Stonewall.
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