Boris Johnson pledges ban on ‘gay conversion therapy’

Boris Johnson said the practice was “absolutely abhorrent” and “has no place in this country”

Plans to bring an end to controversial “gay conversion therapy” in the UK will be brought forward following a government “study” on the issue, the Prime Minister has said.

Mr Johnson’s comments came two years after the Conservative government had pledged to ban the practise as part of its LGBT equality plan.

Campaigners have said that they hope the promised ban on “conversion therapy” covers all those who fall under the LGBT label, which includes trans people.

This comes after the government has admitted that its contact tracing programme, that Boris Johnson pledged would be ‘world beating’, is unlawful in a legal letter which confirms that it has been breaching data protection laws since it has been running in May.

The term “conversion therapy” usually refers to any form of treatment or psychotherapy that aims to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or someone’s gender identity.

All major UK professional bodies for Therapy and the NHS disagree with it on ethical, logical, and moral grounds.

Mr Johnson said: “On the gay conversion therapy thing, I think that’s absolutely abhorrent and has no place in a civilised society, and has no place in this country.”

“What we are going to do is a study right now on, you know, where is this actually happening, how prevalent is it, and we will then bring forward plans to ban it.”

The Prime Minister said it would be published “over the summer”, in regards to the government’s official response to a consultation on the Gender Recognition Act.

The government’s consultation was launched back in 2018 in order for them to have more of an understanding of gender in more detail and to allow them to explore ways in which the legal recognition for trans people throughout England and Wales could be improved.

In 2018, the government did not offer an exact definition of the term “conversion therapy”, but it reported that the practise “can range from pseudo-psychological treatments to, in extreme cases, surgical interventions and ‘corrective’ rape”.

This comes after the United Kingdom has secured early access to 90 million COVID-19 doses of two kinds of coronavirus vaccine through partnerships between the government and pharmaceutical companies.

The Ban Conversion Therapy campaign said: “We’re delighted that Boris Johnson has listened to our calls for a ban on conversion therapy.”

“Now we await action – LGBTQ+ people have been tortured for long enough.”

Gendered Intelligence, a charity that aims to improve the quality of life of trans people, said: “Whilst we hope the prime minister used ‘gay conversion therapy’ for brevity, we must ensure the ban on conversion therapy covers all LGBT people, including trans people.”

“We have to make sure we don’t allow trans conversion therapy through the backdoor.”

Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat leadership candidate who revealed in January she was pansexual and in a relationship with a woman, said the “conversion therapy” remarks were welcome but “there have been ‘plans’ and ‘pledges’ for over two years now”.

“What we need is urgent government action to end this outdated and harmful practice for good,” she said.