Funding to promote anti-LGBT conversion practices surges

A new investigation from Amnesty International UK has found a surge in funding to promote anti-LGBT conversion practices. LGBT Humanists and Humanists UK have expressed alarm at these findings, especially against the backdrop of ongoing delays to the introduction of a legislative conversion practices ban.

Surge in funding from Christian groups

Amnesty investigated 12 groups promoting so-called ‘conversion therapy’ aimed at changing or suppressing someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. They found that the spending of four of these organisations – all Christian charities – had surged by 165%, amounting to nearly £2 million between 2019 and 2023.

This offers concrete evidence that conversion practices remain an acute and growing problem in the UK, some seven years on since the UK Government first pledged to ban the practice in 2018. The new Labour government committed to publishing a draft bill to end conversion practices in the King’s Speech 12 months ago. No draft bill has been published to date.

Discredited, harmful pseudoscience

Sometimes called ‘conversion therapy’, these practices are discredited and harmful, usually rooted in false and often pseudoscientific or religious beliefs about what causes people to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. They are widely condemned by medical professionals, human rights organisations, and mental health experts for its harmful effects, which can include depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. LGBT Humanists, a volunteer-led section of Humanists UK, has campaigned for the end of conversion practices for over 45 years.

Supporters of conversion practices have attempted to undermine efforts for a ban by alleging that the problem is non-existent or already covered by other laws, neither of which is true. Some have unpersuasively argued that any ban on proven-harmful, fraudulent therapies targeting LGBT people would impinge on their religious freedom. These latest statistics highlight that in the context of continued government inaction – and a growing climate of emboldened homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia – religious groups are actively exploiting the absence of a ban by doubling down on abusive, non-therapeutic practices that target LGBT people.

LGBT Humanists Coordinator Nick Baldwin commented:

‘Since its inception over 45 years ago, LGBT Humanists has been speaking out against so-called “conversion therapy”. This investigation demonstrates that the threat of conversion practices is not a shameful chapter in our history. It is still happening here, and it is happening now.

‘We implore the Government to bring forward the legislation needed to stop these abhorrent, harmful practices. It’s been delayed for far too long.’