'Conversion therapy': UK government kicks ban down the road – and there's a major problem with what's been proposed so far
Retrieved on:
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
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For the first time in four years, the king’s (or queen’s) speech has left out a promise to ban so-called “conversion therapy”.
Key Points:
- For the first time in four years, the king’s (or queen’s) speech has left out a promise to ban so-called “conversion therapy”.
- This widely discredited set of practices aims to “cure” LGBTQ+ people by changing or repressing their sexuality or gender identity.
- The government first promised a ban in July 2018, but has stalled on introducing draft legislation.
- The director of external affairs at LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall called it an “act of frightful negligence” that the government has not yet banned the practice.
Why the consent loophole contradicts the law
- To be valid in law, consent must be informed and voluntary.
- So, informed consent in this context would require the “therapist” to tell the recipient that there is extensive scientific evidence that conversion practices can cause grave, lifelong physical or psychological harm.
- The recipient must also be told that there is incontrovertible evidence that “conversion therapy” does not work.
- So, to give their informed consent, recipients must be told that “conversion therapy” puts their health at grave risk and that it does not work.
When consent isn’t voluntary
- This takes us to the second requirement for informed consent: it must be voluntary.
- Voluntary here means that the decision to consent must be made by the person, and not be influenced by others.
- However, truly voluntary consent is not possible here.
- “Conversion therapy” takes place in a context of historical stigmatisation of LGBTQ+ people, and always involves a strikingly asymmetrical power relationship.
‘Conversion therapy’ and coercive control
- Coercive controlling behaviour includes acts of humiliation or intimidation that cause distress to a person.
- In a relationship of coercive control, perpetrators typically gaslight victims into blaming themselves for any abuse they suffer, or understanding the abuse to be beneficial to them.
- Coercive controlling behaviour in the context of domestic abuse is illegal in the UK, regardless of whether someone consented to it.
Ilias Trispiotis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.