Conversion Therapy - Government U turn on Conversion Therapy Ban
Building Equality is an alliance of 60+ organisations committed to promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion in the built environment sector and beyond. We are devastated by the UK Government’s disregard for the safety of our trans and non-binary friends and colleagues with its recent policy decision. Conversion therapy has been condemned as unethical and harmful by trusted medical organisations across the globe, including NHS England, NHS Scotland and the British Psychological Society. The devolved governments in Wales and Scotland are pursuing a full ban.
Any conversion therapy bill which excludes trans and non-binary people is not a ban on conversion therapy. They are at highest risk amongst the LGBTQ+ community, according to statistics from the last National LGBT Survey and LGBT Action Plan:
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5% of respondents said they had been offered conversion in an attempt to “cure” them of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) in their lifetime
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A further 2% said they had undergone conversion therapy
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4% of trans respondents said they had undergone conversion therapy, and 8% reported having been offered it
Many countries across the world have banned this malicious practice outright as it has no place in the modern, inclusive society that we believe our nation, and our government, wishes the United Kingdom to be. Indeed, the UK Government admits that conversion therapy is cruel and harmful and yet does not seek to protect trans and non-binary people from it. This exhibits a further piece of evidence in what seems to be a clear agenda of targeted policy-making against the trans and non-binary community. Our own Prime Minister sought to make transphobia a political and joking matter at a recent Conservative Party event on 29th March.
The decision to allow a partial ban is an absolute violation of the basic human rights of trans and non-binary people in the UK. Within the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which the UK has signed and ratified, we would like to remind the UK Government of its obligations:
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Article 3: We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety.
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Article 5: No one has the right to inflict torture, or to subject anyone else to cruel or inhuman treatment.
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Article 7: The law is the same for everyone and must treat us all equally.
Building Equality call upon the UK Government to immediately extend the conversion therapy ban to include trans and non-binary people.
We also call upon all organisations in the built environment sector and beyond to withdraw support of the Government’s ‘Safe To Be Me’ Global Equality Conference. This event has become a platform for non-inclusive organisations to distribute their hatred, particularly transphobia. Members of the LGBTQ+ community do not feel safe to be themselves.
Write to your MP to demand a comprehensive ban on conversion therapy for the entire LGBTQ+ community. We stand with trans community today and every day.
There is no LGB without the T.
#LGBwiththeT #NOTSafeToBeMe
Julian Phatarfod (he/him), Lucy Bradbury (she/her), Luke Ives he/him), Lynne Hamilton (she/her), Michelle Katie Shepherd (she/her), Peter Weller (he/him), Ryan Doolan (he/him) & Vicky Thorburn (she/her)
Building Equality, April 2022
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The full signed document can be downloaded here:
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