The British government announced, this Thursday (25), a bill to ban “conversion therapies” for LGBTQIA+ people, highlighting that These practices continue to exist due to the absence of legislation specific that it sanctions.
The so-called “conversion therapies”, which consider homosexuality a disease, These are practices that mistakenly claim to be able to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The bill, which affects the England and Walesprovides for prison sentences of up to five years and/or fines for those who carry out these practices.
“The victims of these conversion practices report facts ranging from beatings and rapes to verbal threats, manipulation and exorcisms“, highlighted the British government in a statement.
Vulnerability
“As legal loopholes left LGBTQIA+ people vulnerable to these harmful acts, which is why we need to legislate”, explained the Secretary of State for Equality, Olivia Bailey, in the same statement.
An initiative of this type has been announced several times since 2018, without coming to fruition due to changes of direction in conservative governments previous ones.
The Labor Party, which came to power in July 2024, has committed to carrying out this measure, including transgender people.
A legislation does not cover the whole of the UKas this is a matter of jurisdiction for each of its constituent territories. Therefore, Scotland and Northern Ireland will have to decide whether or not to adopt this measure.
Organizations celebrate
“We welcome this legislation, although it arrives very late. This is an essential first step in treating conversion practices as a specific form of harm,” said Jasmine O’Connor, co-director of the Galop association.
A European Union (EU) indicated in May that it does not have legal powers to ban these practices across the continentso it will limit itself to recommending that its members ban them.
