In their 2018 manifesto, the Conservative Party stated their intent to end LGBTQ+ conversion therapy. They once again re-iterated that stance in a statement by Equalities Minister Liz Truzz on June 5th this year.
On Friday 3rd July 2020, however, The House of Commons has put out a survey asking how Conversion Therapy affects the LGBTQ+ community, and whether or not it should be made illegal. This survey was then removed, and the original tweet deleted.
As with the consultation around the Gender Recognition Act that the government conducted in 2018, it is imperative that we work together as a community to ensure that our voices are heard and that this barbaric and awful this type of therapy is to members of the LGBTQ+ community.
On this website is information, supported by hard evidence, that was compiled with the intent to help you in answering the questions that the House of Commons were asking. While the tweet and survey have now been removed, this work will continue to stand as a source of information and proof of the power of our community to come together in solidarity.
This question is an opportunity to highlight key cases in history and show how they impact every part of the LGBTQ+ community.
"We have waited at least two years for this to happen, during which vulnerable LGBT+ people have been at risk and very likely harmed.
It is therefore essential that the government acts swiftly. The UK aspires to be a beacon on LGBT+ rights. In this case, that means having a thorough law that protects all LGBT+ people."
There is clear precident from the United Nations and many national medical bodies supporting the criminalisation of conversion therapy.
"The religious quest [is a] powerful exploration of what it is to be human, in all its richness and diversity. It is as wrong to pursue through psychotherapy, a religious agenda which predetermines homosexuality as wrong, as it would be to use psychotherapy to define religious faith as pathological state to be eradicated."
Conversion therapy impacts every single part of the LGBTQ+ community. It is harmful to Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual people on whom it is used to deny the validity of their sexual orientation, and it is harmful to Transgender individuals, including those who define as non-binary, gender fluid, agender, and gender non-conforming on whom it is used to deny their gender identity and expression.
"We take it for granted that we can speak about these things openly, or even to have the language to express that ‘I experienced conversion therapy'."
