Our colleagues at Thoughtful Therapists have just published an important detailed response to the proposed UK Conversion Practices Bill which we would urge viewers to read here. In it the authors Peter Jenkins and Lucy Beney develop the arguments laid out in a previous article posted on the CTA website.
The authors draw attention to the Bill’s key features, which mark it out as being much more comprehensive, targeted and draconian than previous failed versions of similar UK legislation on this contested topic. The Bill is in trans terms, ‘inclusive’, in that it seeks to criminalise attempts to undermine both adherence to sexual orientation and to gender identity. The draft law frames conversion attempts as presenting a breach of the criminal law, rather than being strictly a civil matter, with accordingly more severe penalties, including fines and imprisonment. Perhaps surprisingly, the core term employed here is that of conversion practices, rather than the previous standard fallback of conversion therapy.
The authors provide a brief summary in clear language, setting out its main provisions, such as the controversial introduction of Conversion Practices Protection Orders. This new type of legal order will enable trans activists, for the first time, to intervene directly in bitter family disputes over consent for medical transition for children. But perhaps the real strength of this brief paper lies in the composite case histories produced by Lucy Beney, one of the authors. These describe the confusion, mystification and misdirection which are experienced by many children under 18, in trying to grapple with issues about sexuality, attraction and relationships when using the alien language of gender identity. These poignant case studies illustrate only too well the challenges currently faced by children, parents and therapists, and support the case that this Bill is unworkable and needs to be stopped in its tracks.
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