Public Policy Researcher Carys Moseley explains why Christians should be alert to a Labour move to ban ‘conversion practices’
The new Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to table a government bill to ban conversion therapy.
This was set out in the King’s Speech last week, in accordance with Keir Starmer’s promise earlier this year.
The government has said it will publish a draft bill, due to the complexity of the matter. Kemi Badenoch also promised this during the Conservative government but a bill was never published.
Proposed bill threatens fundamental freedoms
The background briefing notes to the King’s Speech provide details on the proposed draft bill. The starting point is the statement that ‘conversion practices are abuse’. The government wishes to draft a bill covering acts not addressed by current criminal law. It says that it wants to balance protecting people from abusive practices whilst preserving their freedom to ‘explore their sexual orientation and gender identity’.
Crucially the government states that it does not want a ban to cover ‘legitimate psychological support, treatment, or non-directive counselling’. This leaves the door wide open to criminalisation of speech that is deemed to be directive. This could mean anything from morally authoritative commands to offering advice or prayer. Back in 2021 Christian Concern’s CEO Andrea Williams warned that the previous government’s safeguards for conversations, exchange of views and private prayer were vague and unreliable.
Government caveats are insufficient
As with the previous Conservative government, the new Labour government says that it wishes to balance a ban with the protection of specific groups in society. The focus is on supporting individuals who ‘explore’ their sexual orientation or gender identity.
‘[The ban] must also respect the important role that teachers, religious leaders, parents and carers can have in supporting those exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity.’
It’s difficult to trust the government on this, given that former Labour MP Russell-Moyle’s private member’s bill debated back in March was so untrustworthy on these issues.
Will the government give respect and dignity or take it away?
In the next sentence, the King’s Speech briefing notes make a significant new statement:
“This is a government of change, which will give respect and dignity to everyone. That is why the ban will be fully trans-inclusive. We are committed to listening to all viewpoints and concerns with respect.”
It is difficult to understand what precisely is meant by the government promising to ‘give respect and dignity to everyone’. Is the government merely saying that it will respect everyone and treat everyone with dignity, and ensure that all parts of society do so? Or is there a hint that the government’s job is to give – in the sense of granting – respect and dignity to people, as if they didn’t really have it before? If the latter is understood, this opens up the question about where human dignity comes from. As Christians we believe that God has given us dignity by creating us in His image. For those who do not believe in God, where does human dignity come from, and why should people respect each other?
A conversion practices ban will have the effect of outlawing speech that provides advice and guidance on living as God’s creatures, male and female. It will, from a Christian standpoint, criminalise the upholding of our human dignity.
Is the government right that there is a social consensus for a ban?
The King’s Speech briefing notes claim that ‘there is genuine cross party and cross society consensus to see these practices banned’. The government is quite plainly saying something that isn’t true here.
First of all, public opinion polls disprove the claim. In May 2023, Whitestone Insight published a poll commissioned by Christian Concern which found that most people opposed a ban. Significantly, the public was not supportive overall of prosecutions of counsellors and therapists.
As for the claim of a cross-party consensus for a ban, this has been eroded this year. Back in February far more peers opposed than supported a ban in the debate on Baroness Burt’s private member’s bill in the House of Lords. Liberal Democrat peers turned against their own party’s support for a ban. Lord Forsyth called the bill ‘the most badly drafted, dangerous piece of legislation’ in over forty years of Parliament.
The government’s evidence base is inadequate
The briefing notes to the King’s Speech state the evidence base the government has used: the previous government’s LGBT Survey, and a survey by polling company YouGov for the LGBT charity GALOP conducted in 2022. I explained at the time that GALOP’s survey was of poor quality. For example it found that 5% of LGBT people in the UK had had family members try to ‘change, cure or suppress’ their sexual orientation or gender identity. GALOP did not provide any further details of what this looked like. This is not robust evidence, it is making a case based only on hearsay. It appears to be trying to create a picture of terrible things happening behind closed doors without being able to prove that they are happening.
It is relevant that GALOP had by then started to run both the Conversion Therapy Victims’ Helpline and the Conversion Therapy Support Service website for the government. At the same time GALOP had been very sneaky in widening the definition of conversion therapy beyond what the government had set out. Reading GALOP’s website just about anybody anywhere could be guilty of conversion therapy. It also denies that anybody could consent to conversion therapy, a standpoint a standpoint traceable back to the Ozanne Foundation. This stance was itself disingenuous as Jayne Ozanne had told Parliament back in May 2021 that she and many others had willingly consented to what she called conversion therapy.
Health Secretary to continue ban on puberty blockers
The new Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said he will continue the previous Conservative government’s ban on puberty blockers. His predecessor Victoria Atkins had enacted emergency secondary legislation that is in force between 3 June and 2 September this year. Streeting also endorsed the Cass Review. Hilary Cass has been given a damehood and is now in the House of Lords. All of this is relevant because supporters of a ‘full’ trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban are typically opposed to the ban on puberty blockers.
The response from ban supporters has been to hurl vicious accusations that Streeting is somehow ‘murdering children’. It is perhaps telling of how fearful Labour is of public opinion that Lisa Nandy the new Culture Secretary has backed Streeting. Less than a year ago Nandy was strongly criticised by novelist JK Rowling for saying she was one of the biggest reasons women didn’t trust Labour to defend single-sex rights. Also relevant is the recent finding by Professor Louis Appleby that the ban on puberty blockers by the High Court in December 2020 did not lead to a rise in teenage suicides. Professor Appleby is chair of the National Suicide Prevention advisory group, which advises the government on the matter.
Will conversion therapy ban be forced through in Scotland?
Meanwhile, the SNP government in Scotland led by John Swinney will support a criminal ban in Westminster.
The Daily Record revealed that there are those in the Labour Party who favour sneaking in a ban in Scotland by getting the Scottish Parliament to vote for a consent motion accepting a Westminster bill. This looks somewhat devious as it gets round the fact that criminal law is devolved to Scotland, and is clearly intended to prevent another public row over gender identity issues.
The need to watch the government’s tactics
The fact that the government has promised a draft bill means that it should be open to public consultation, or perhaps pre-legislative scrutiny in a parliamentary committee. Either way it will take time before the debate on it is concluded. At the same time we need to pay attention to other more hidden tactics by the government.
The ban is tacked onto the end of the paragraph on improving the NHS in the King’s Speech. However, Sir Keir Starmer’s list of ”Top Ten Things to Know from the King’s Speech” does not refer to banning conversion therapy. We can’t assume from this omission that the ban isn’t a high priority for the government. We must be alert at every step to the serious risk a ban poses to Christian freedoms.
