The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has voted in favour of a resolution calling on member states to introduce a legislative ban on conversion practices. The resolution follows on from a report authored by Kate Osborne MP for the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination. The report was adopted unanimously by the Committee last year. Humanists UK and its section LGBT+ Humanists, who have long campaigned for a ban on conversion practices, welcome the news.
Conversion practices – also sometimes called ‘conversion therapy’ – are not only discredited but deeply harmful. Rooted in misguided beliefs, they subject LGBT people, often young and vulnerable, to practices ranging from pseudo-psychological treatments to exorcisms to extreme measures like forced marriage and ‘corrective rape’. The consequences can include lasting mental trauma, self-harm, and tragically, even suicide.
Humanists UK and LGBT+ Humanists campaign for a ban on therapies, services, and other practices that have a predetermined purpose to change, deny, or suppress an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity because of prejudiced assumptions that a particular sexual orientation or gender identity is better than any others. They do not seek to ban appropriately informed and ethical medical or psychological services that are essential for people in exploring and coming to terms with who they are – whether or not an individual subsequently identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
In 2018 the then Conservative government first announced plans to introduce a legislative conversion practices ban in England and Wales. This was followed by nearly five years of inaction until it was finally announced, in 2023, that a draft Bill would be published ‘shortly’, but it never happened. In the King’s Speech following the 2024 general election, the new Labour government committed to publishing a Bill to ban LGBT conversion practices. It has yet to do so.
LGBT+ Humanists Coordinator Nick Baldwin commented:
‘We’re delighted to see the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe show some leadership in what has become a fraught and often weaponised area of equality and non-discrimination for our LGBT+ community. We’d like to thank Kate Osborne MP in particular for her work in authoring the report and bringing the resolution forward for a conversion practices ban.
‘We now urge the governments of Europe to take heed. Conversion practices are harmful. A legislative ban sends a clear message to perpetrators that this abuse cannot continue with impunity. We particularly look to our own government to fulfil their promise of publishing a draft Bill urgently.’
Notes
For further comment or information, media should contact Humanists UK Head of Press and Campaign Communications Nathan Stilwell at press@humanists.uk or phone 0203 675 0959 (media only).
Read the PACE resolution for a ban on conversion practices.
Read Kate Osborne MP’s report on banning conversion practices.
Read more about our work on banning conversion practices.
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