UK: Draft bill to ban conversion practices published – Amnesty ‘will scrutinise every word’

Today the government has published a long overdue draft bill to ban conversion practices. Such a bill has been promised by several governments over the past eight years and, after many broken promises, today marks a significant step forward in protecting the rights of LGBT+ people in the UK.

The UK’s record on LGBT+ rights has deteriorated sharply over the last decade, in part because of the failure to legislate to ban conversion practices – practices to which many LGBT+ people are still subjected. Nearly one in five LGBT+ people have experienced someone trying to change, ‘cure’ or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity, mostly through coercive control, psychological abuse, threats, forced marriage efforts, or surveillance and restriction.

Trans and non-binary people are significantly more likely to be subjected to conversion practices.

The draft bill sends a clear message that everyone has the right to be safe and live openly and fully. LGBT+ people are not broken and do not need ‘fixing’ - protection from harm is long overdue.

Chiara Capraro, Amnesty International UK’s Gender Lead, said:

“After years of broken promises, this draft bill is the first real opportunity to protect LGBT+ people from these harmful practices – but our work is just beginning. We will scrutinise every word in the bill to ensure it is compliant with human rights standards, fully trans inclusive and provides effective protection and remedy for victims and survivors.

“These are unsettling times for LGBT+ people in this country, especially trans people. The UK has a long road ahead before it can again be a place where all LGBT+ people are safe and their rights are respected. Today’s draft bill is a reminder that progress is possible.

“We are committed to work with the Ban Conversion Practices coalition to ensure the government delivers a world-class, fully trans inclusive bill so that these harmful practices become a thing of the past.”

What are conversion practices?

The Ban Conversion Practices coalition defines conversion practices as: “Treatments, practices or services that seek to change or suppress a person's sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, based on the assumption that any sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is inherently preferable to any other.”

Conversion practices are part of wider prejudice and discrimination against LGBT+ people and can amount to torture and inhuman and degrading treatment.

Current laws don't give LGBT+ people the protection they need from conversion practices. The harm is systemic, and the current legal protections are patchy and insufficient - no current law treats this pattern of behaviour as what it is: a sustained and coordinated form of harm.

Statistics from Galop’s report ‘Still not illegal’, available at: https://www.galop.org.uk/resources/still-not-illegal-evidence-of-modern-day-conversion-practices