Britain Proposes Ban on Conversion Therapy With Five-Year Prison Sentences and Unlimited Fines

The British government is proposing to criminalize conversion therapy practices with penalties of up to five years in prison and unlimited fines. The term conversion therapy refers to practices that seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or persuade them not to undergo gender transition procedures. LGBTQ advocates have been pushing for a ban on the practices, arguing they are abusive and harmful. A draft Conversion Therapy Practices bill would criminalize what it calls “abusive acts,” punishable by up to five years in prison and unlimited fines.The Cabinet Office said the legislation will ensure LGBTQ people are “protected from physical and psychological abuse to change who they are.” It describes conversion therapy as conduct that “aims to change someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity through abusive acts that seriously harm the victim.”The minister for equalities, Olivia Bailey, said, “Conversion practices are driven by the false belief that being LGBT+ is shameful and can be forcibly changed.” She insisted that “legal loopholes have left LGBT+ people vulnerable to these harmful acts.”The legislation would criminalize conversion therapy practices that “cause serious harm, alarm, or distress.” It would also make it illegal to encourage or help someone to undergo conversion therapy outside of England.Critics of the legislation argue that modern-day conversion therapy is simply talk therapy, and that advocates for the legislation have failed to show that those conversations have harmed anyone. England’s 2018 LGBT Survey found that out of 108,000 people surveyed, 5 percent said they had been offered conversion therapy, while 2 percent said they had undergone it. An LGBTQ charity, Galop, said that between 2022 and 2025, it reviewed 195 complaints from individuals who said they had undergone conversion therapy. The organization said that 81 percent of the cases “involved coercive and controlling conversion practices, such as emotional and psychological abuse, threats, forced marriage, or restriction and surveillance. ”The CEO of Galop, Jasmine O’Connor, said that the ban is “urgently needed” as her organization “frequently witnesses the devastating impacts caused by conversion practices.”The proposal has the support of the Church of England. The bishop of Manchester, David Walker, said conversion therapy has “harmed LGBT people over many years, leaving many with lifelong trauma,” and that the ban will allow for “substantial progress” to be made. But a conservative therapist, James Esses, wrote on X that the bill is “worse than I ever could have imagined.”During an interview on GB News, Mr. Esses said opponents of conversion therapy made it sound as though they are referring to “historic injustices” such as electric shock therapy. He noted that electric shock therapy is already illegal and raised concerns that the proposal will criminalize “talking.”“Under the wording of this draft bill … a parent who does not want their child to transition, to take puberty blockers, to go and have their breasts or genitals removed, they could be criminalized under this. And if the government says that’s not the case, then I’m afraid they’re lying,” Mr. Esses said. The British government says that the proposed legislation has a “high threshold for criminality … so that only the acts that are abusive, seeking to change someone’s identity, and create real harm to the person, will be in scope.”The Cabinet Office says the proposal includes “exemptions for legitimate healthcare,” so that “therapists and counsellors can be confident that they can continue their work.”

Britain Proposes Ban on Conversion Therapy With Five-Year Prison Sentences and Unlimited Fines

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