U.K. to proceed with ‘conversion therapy’ ban, but not for trans people

Earlier Thursday, ITV News published an exclusive report on a leaked government document that included proposals to halt the introduction of a legislative ban on gay conversion therapy. The document said Johnson had decided to change course, despite several promises from him and his Tory predecessor, Theresa May, that the ban will be outlawed.

The decision was met with backlash from MPs and activists after the report aired, which prompted a quick U-turn, according to ITV News. A senior spokesperson told the news outlet that the ban will be introduced after all but that it will include gay and bisexual people only, excluding transgender people. The ban on conversion therapy will also be in the Queen’s speech in early May, the news outlet said.

The approval of a law banning the practice had already been announces by the Queen in her 2021 speech. The ban was first promised by former prime minister Theresa May in 2018.

The exclusion of trans people was decried by celebrities, activists and some politicians. Pride in London tweeted the organization was “devastated” by the government’s decision and that “this will only result in further abuse and pain for trans communities.”

According to a national LGTB survey conducted by the U.K. government and published July 2018, transgender respondents were more likely to have undergone or been offered conversion therapy (13 percent) compared to cisgender survey respondents (7 percent), people whose gender identity conforms with their birth sex.

The practice of conversion therapy, which targets LGTBQ people with the purpose of changing their sexual orientation or gender identity, is considered harmful by mainstream medical organizations worldwide. Fourteen countries have some sort of national ban on this practice, according to Stonewall U.K.