This week, the government cancelled its first global LGBTQ+ conference which was meant to further equality and help tackle pressing issues like violence and hate. It did this after more than 150 other charities and community organisations from across the LGBTQ+ rights and HIV sector – including Stonewall – withdrew our support for the event.
We made this choice because, after years of waiting, the prime minister broke his promise to our community to ban conversion practices for all LGBTQ+ people. In the space of just a few days, official government policy zigzagged: first a weak ban, then no ban, then finally a weak ban that only protects cis lesbian, gay and bi people, leaving transgender people out in the cold.
This is in spite of the fact that trans people are one of the groups at highest risk from conversion practices. The UK government’s own research shows that 4% of trans people have been exposed to them. Last week, the LGBTQ+ charity Galop published research on abuse in the home, which found that 11% of trans people have been exposed to conversion practices by their own family. Most of the victims were harmed while they were still children.
Conversion practices that target trans people are not new, they are not hidden and they are absolutely not harmless. Abuse of trans people is woven through the whole sorry history of anti-LGBTQ+ conversion efforts. Trans people were being “treated” with electroshock therapy on the NHS well into the 1970s. Today, anti-trans groups talk publicly about having a goal of “100% desistence”; or targeting trans children and young people with conversion practices until no more trans people exist. You can order manuals for conversion practices to use on your trans or gender-questioning child on mainstream websites.
The harm done is acute, and sometimes lifelong. Around the world, 14 countries, from Taiwan to Canada, have already banned conversion practices nationwide, and in many others it has been banned at state level. In all but two cases, these bans cover both sexual orientation and gender identity, because all forms of this abuse are unacceptable and harmful, and because all conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ communities have the same basic motivation. In the words of the UN independent expert: “The injury caused by conversion therapy begins with the notion that an individual is sick, diseased and abnormal due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and must therefore be treated.”
An effective, inclusive ban on conversion practices is overwhelmingly supported by the British public. It is supported by the governments of Scotland and Wales, who have been clear that they will legislate and regulate to protect trans people, even if the UK government will not.
It is supported by the medical establishment, including the British Psychological Society, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Royal College of Psychiatrists, as well as NHS England and Scotland. These professional bodies are signatories to a Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy, and are all actively campaigning for an inclusive and enforceable ban, while working to ensure their members are confident in supporting LGBTQ+ patients ethically and well.
It is supported by progressive and inclusive faith leaders. Indeed, this week, in a last-ditch attempt to get the government to see sense, the former archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, along with a number of religious leaders, delivered a letter to Downing Street calling for a trans-inclusive ban and stating that: “To be trans is to enter a sacred journey of becoming whole: precious, honoured and loved, by yourself, by others and by God.”
And it is supported by the LGBTQ+ community. We have worked so hard across our movement to get the UK government to see that an effective, inclusive ban on conversion practices is a necessary and straightforward foundation for any country that wants its LGBTQ+ citizens to be able to live their lives freely. They have not listened and LGBTQ+ people will not stay silent.
The decision to cancel the conference shows just how seriously the UK government has let down our community – our trust has been shattered. As we approach the 50th anniversary of Pride, it is vital that the prime minister works actively to begin rebuilding trust and set a clear direction for ministers to consistently support all LGBTQ+ people.
That must start with a commitment to legislating for a trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices. Trans people are no less worthy of respect, compassion and protection than cis lesbian, gay and bi people. It supports all of our rights, or none of our rights.
Nancy Kelley is the chief executive of Stonewall
