On Friday, October 29th, 2021, the UK government announced a long-awaited public consultation on a proposed country-wide ban on conversion therapy. However, there are several significant issues with the proposed ban.
The proposal has carve-outs for religious-based conversion therapy that are broad enough to cover virtually any sort of therapy that assumes a veneer of religion. Based on UK government data, about half of the people in the UK subjected to conversion therapy had it done under religious auspices. It also includes exemptions for “pure speech acts,” which are undefined. In the US, legal challenges to bans on conversion therapy have argued successfully that such bans impinge on freedom of speech. The UK proposal seems to open a window to similar challenges.
The biggest issues with the proposed ban, however, are with how it treats trans youth. The foreword of the document states, “The proposed protections are universal: an attempt to change a person from being attracted to the same-sex to being attracted to the opposite-sex, or from not being transgender to being transgender, (emphasis added) will be treated in the same way as the reverse scenario. They therefore protect everyone.” It reiterates this point six times throughout the document.
This point is odd, since nothing like it appears in legal bans on conversion therapy in the US. It is, however, a nod to anti-trans groups that falsely allege that affirming trans youth is a form of conversion therapy (transitioning doesn’t change who you’re attracted to, only the label), and that youth are being pressured into transitioning.
The proposed ban makes it clear that the UK government intends to use it to prevent trans youth from socially transitioning, receiving blockers, or hormones after the age of 16. It states that, “The government is determined to ensure that no person is put on a clinical pathway that is not right for them, and that young people are supported in exploring their identity without being encouraged towards one particular path.”
This has had an immediate chilling effect. The Times claimed that the proposed ban would outlaw charities which support trans youth and their parents, such as Mermaids. This was denied by equalities minister Mike Freer, and Mermaids on Twitter.
Anti-trans campaigners were unhappy with the proposed ban as well. Far-right DUP councillor Colin Kennedy alleged that conversion therapy doesn’t actually happen, and that this consultation is part of a “hoax” that is part of a plot to create a “neo-Marxist utopia.” The anti-trans organization LGB Alliance has opposed the ban since it was proposed, falsely arguing that conversion therapy on LGB people in the UK is rare (in reality, thousands of people have been subjected to it), and that it might hinder therapists who want to prevent youth from being trans.
The likely outcome of this proposed conversion therapy ban is that it will cause more harm than good for trans people. The Tory government has a history of over-promising and under-delivering for the transgender community. Despite the support for broad GRA reform to fix a system that is long, intrusive, burdensome, and difficult, the actual reform amounted to nothing more than dropping the application fee and moving some of the forms online.
Similarly, this proposed legislation won’t improve things for trans youth, and will likely make it worse. They’ll still be subjected to conversion therapy as long as there’s a veneer of religion on top of it. At the same time, legitimate therapists treating trans youth will be scared to provide affirmation of their identity, lest they be accused of committing “reverse” conversion therapy. Today, it’s extremely difficult to receive care for trans youth, and impossible for adults (the current wait time at some gender clinics for adults exceed 1200 years.)
As a result, access to social transition, blockers, and HRT for people under 18 will become impossible, because therapists worry about violating the law. Their goal will be to simply keep the patient alive until they turn 18, when they can then be dumped into the adult system where they will never receive medical treatment anyway. Much like the way in which anti-CRT laws in the US are meant to prevent ANY discussion of race, this law is intentionally vague in to prevent clinicians from providing any support, for fear of being prosecuted for “reverse” conversion therapy.
Given that the primary goal of conversion therapy on trans youth is to prevent them from transitioning, this proposal would effectively make it mandatory.
The SCOTUS Event Horizon for the LGBT Movement
Stop for a moment. Imagine how bad it will be…