Keep Trans in the Ban: UK Ban on Conversion Therapy Expanded

Following last year’s decision by U.K. Parliament to exclude trans and gender nonconforming people from its ban on conversion therapy, protestors flooded the streets opposing the exclusion. The unofficial slogan for the protest was “Keep Trans in the Ban.”

It appears that the mass protests have worked, as on Tuesday, January 17, Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan made an announcement that a committee would soon review legislation aimed at protecting trans people from conversion therapy. If Parliament passes this legislation, the measure would apply to England and Wales, outlawing conversion therapy for young people and adults “who do not consent and who are coerced or forced to undergo” this predatory treatment.

While this is a massive step in the right direction, it is important to note that the ban does not cover “conversations” that clinicians have with their patients. “The legislation must not, through a lack of clarity, harm the growing number of children and young adults experiencing gender related distress, through inadvertently criminalizing or chilling legitimate conversations parents or clinicians may have with their children,” Donelan says. This means that parents can still seek out non-affirming therapists and clinicians for their questioning children and perpetuate the cycles of shame and repression that banning conversion therapy hopes to do away with in the first place.

Some activists saw this announcement as a diversion from the U.K. government overstepping Scotland’s autonomy and attempting to block Scottish legislation that would make it easier for trans people to change their gender markers on legal documents. Though Scotland enjoys some autonomy, it technically requires “royal assent” to pass laws, and the U.K. government seeks to block that assent. Scotland’s government says it will fight any attempt to block the legislation they pass for their own people.

Whether or not the legislation aimed at protecting trans people in the U.K. was meant to distract from trans rights being trampled in Scotland, this ban, limited though it might be, is a success for queer rights activists.