The Scottish government has published a proposal to ban conversion therapy. (Canva) The Scottish government has published plans to ban the barbaric practice of LGBTQ+ conversion therapy. While UK-based activists sit tight in wait of an update on Rishi Sunak’s conservative party to follow through on their promise to ban the abhorrent practice, Scotland is
conversion therapy
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern at the 2018 Auckland Pride parade. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images) Conservation therapy survivors can now seek an apology or even financial compensation from practioners in New Zealand. The country’s Human Rights Commission launched a free and confidential dispute resolution service for those subjected to the dangerous and discredited practice on
Actor Luke Fetherston reveals he has been told to hide his sexuality (Flowers in the Attic: The Origin/Lifetime) British actor and model Luke Fetherston says that he was “very recently” advised to hide his sexuality by a fellow actor. In an interview with Attitude, Fetherston explained that while playing a gay character on his upcoming
Britain’s foreign secretary Liz Truss. (Leon Neal/Getty Images) Britain’s top LGBT+ rights activists have slammed minister for women and equalities Liz Truss for “falling short” on the government’s conversion therapy ban. Earlier this month, the Conservative government threw yet another wrench into the long-sought ban on the dangerous and discredited practise – extending its consultation
Protestors outside Westminster to support a ban on so-called LGBT+ conversion therapy. (Twitter/TransActivismUK) Trans and non-binary protestors were at Westminster yesterday (23 November) as a group of US fundamentalist Christians held a conference asking British MPs not to ban so-called LGBT+ conversion therapy. The protest, organised by the collective Trans Activism UK, saw demonstrators take
A group of LGBT+ barristers have spoken out after an “anti-trans” lawyer was announced for a panel discussion on conversion therapy. The Twitter account @LGBTQBarristers posted an unsigned letter to express “profound disappointment” at the inclusion of speaker Naomi Cunningham at the inaugural Middle Temple LGBTQ+ Forum on Tuesday. The letter is said to represent over
Britain’s equalities minister Liz Truss leaves Downing Street. (BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images) The Conservative government has finally announced proposed plans for its conversion therapy ban – with religious forms of the discredited practice to remain legal. More than three years after ministers promised to outlaw conversion therapy in England and Wales, a public consultation is
Boris Johnson. (Tayfun Salci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) The British government is, in fact, “committed to outlawing conversion ‘therapy’ by spring 2022”, the prime minister’s LGBT+ envoy has said. Nick Herbert, appointed by Boris Johnson as a “special envoy” on queer advocacy at home and abroad, gave a simple piece of information that many officials
Jeffrey McCall in PRAY AWAY. (Netflix) At the start of Netflix’s Pray Away, a man approaches a group of strangers and tells them how he lived as a trans woman until, one day, he stumbled head first into Christianity Now, Jeffrey McCall sees his past life as sinful. He lives as a cis man and is
Boris Johnson. (Christopher Furlong/WPA Pool /Getty) At a Downing Street Pride reception hosted by Boris Johnson, the prime minister will be told by experts, yet again, that he must urgently ban conversion therapy in the UK. Amnesty International UK said it would tell the prime minister that he must ban the dangerous and debunked practice “without
Jim Wells had the DUP whip withdrawn in 2018. (Getty) Former DUP minister Jim Wells doesn’t want conversion therapy to be banned in Northern Ireland in case he “struggles with same-sex attraction” and needs his pastor. Wells, who has a long history of making anti-LGBT+ remarks, made his comments during a Stormont debate on the
Boris Johnson. (Christopher Furlong/WPA Pool /Getty) MPs from across the UK have insisted that any ban on conversion therapy must also include trans people. During a debate in Westminster Hall on Monday evening (8 March), MPs urged the government to ban the harmful, pseudoscientific practice. The debate, triggered by a petition to government signed by
Vice president Mike Pence. (Getty/J. Scott Applewhite) Indiana, the home-state of vice-president Mike Pence, could be next in line to ban traumatising conversion therapy for LGBT+ people in a groundbreaking move. JD Ford and Sue Errington, two Indiana Democrats, have introduced bills that would outlaw the dangerous practice in the state. If passed, the bills would
Donald Trump-appointed judges reverved a vital ban on therapists offering conversion therapy – a denounced and debunked pseudosicenfitic practise – Friday (November 20), branding the ban “unconstititional”. Also called reparative therapy, medical organisations across the world have widely rejected the treatment as traumatising and psychologically scarring, especially to minors. In fact, the American Academy of
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends the 2016 Toronto Pride parade (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) The UN’s LGBT+ rights expert has praised Canada’s bill to ban conversion therapy, which could set a new international standard on the issue. The legislation, officially tabled in Parliament earlier this month (October 1) with the backing of prime
Elton John has joined a chorus of queer religious leaders in calling for British churches to tackle the “ticking timebomb” of spiritual abuse levelled against LGBT+ people. The singer threw his support to a Saturday (17 October) conference that will see around 400 church leaders across various denominations discuss how places of worship can be made
A call for institutionalised conversion therapy in Poland has been roundly condemned by therapeutic and psychological experts in the country. Earlier this month, the Polish Episcopal Conference of Catholic bishops said that it was “necessary to create [conversion therapy] clinics… to help people regain their sexual health and natural sexual orientation”. The call for a
A Polish bishop dismissed fears that the Catholic church wants to force LGBT+ people into conversion therapy (Artur Widak/NurPhoto/ Getty) A Polish bishop has insisted it’s a “misconception” that the church wants to force LGBT+ people into conversion therapy, despite calling for the creation of conversion therapy clinics just days earlier. After a three-day Polish
Layla Moran has warned the government not to conflate a conversion therapy ban with reforms to the Gender Recognition Act (Vickie Flores/In Pictures/Getty) Lib Dem leadership candidate Layla Moran has warned Liz Truss not to use a conversion therapy ban as “a pawn in the Government’s culture war”. Moran, who is pansexual, wrote to the
Northern Ireland’s most prominent conversion therapy advocate Mike Davidson has said the LGBT+ community is “like a cult” that nobody is allowed to leave. Davidson runs Core Issues Trust, a County Down based organisation that claims to “support” people with “homosexual issues” who want to become straight. The conversion therapy advocate told Christian Today that people are
Shadow human services minister Nat Cook is drafting legislation to ban traumatising conversion therapy in South Australia. (NatCookMP/ Twitter) New legislation is to be introduced South Australia to ban the traumatising practice of conversion therapy “as soon as possible”. The legislation, proposed by the opposition Labor Party, would mean that medical professionals and religious groups
Christopher Doyle, a “former homosexual”, co-founded the “ex-gay” group Voice of the Voiceless. (Voice of the Silenced/ YouTube) Evangelical anti-LGBT+ Christians are fuming after Facebook confirmed that it would ban advertising for conversion therapy on the social media platform. Facebook confirmed on Friday, July 10, that as part of a push to expand its hate
Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has accepted nearly £75,000 in donations from an organisation whose director tweeted in support of so-called conversion therapy. Dr David Landrum, director of an organisation called Faith in Public, tweeted a link to an article protesting against proposals to ban gay conversion therapy in July 2018. It is currently
Dr Mohamed Al Dabbas openly practices conversion therapy. (Vezeeta) A psychiatrist in the Middle Eastern country of Jordan has unashamedly described how he “treats” gay people with traumatising conversion therapy. Although Jordan decriminalised homosexuality in 1951, it was only in 2013 that honour killings stopped being legal justification for murder. LGBT+ people face discrimination and
Liz Truss gives a speech at think-tank ‘Onward’ on March 19, 2019 in London. (PLuke Dray/Getty Images) Topping off a dispiriting few years for trans Britons, vital plans to reform legislation around legally changing one’s gender have been reportedly abandoned. But ministers hope to, nevertheless, “placate” the LGBT+ community by introducing a state ban on
Dr Caroline Norma will appear on a panel discussing “the major concerns around the proposed [conversion therapy] ban”. (CarolineNorma76/ Twitter) Students are revolting at an Australian university after a lecturer signed up to be a panellist at a “unscientific and dangerous” gay conversion therapy forum. Dr Caroline Norma is a lecturer in the School of
Boris Johnson. (Christopher Furlong – WPA Pool /Getty Images) The UK government has reportedly made no moves to ban conversion therapy almost two years after pledging to “eradicate” the harmful practice. So-called “conversion therapy” refers to the dangerous and discredited practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. All efforts to
A leading Israeli rabbi has come under fire after he suggested that traumatising conversion therapy can “help people be straight again.” Yigal Levinstein, a co-head of a pre-army Yeshiva, made the claims about the harmful practice in a Zoom class taught through his Bnei David academy. “It’s possible to help people be straight again,” Levinstein
Jens Spahn, German minister of health, announced the conversion therapy ban on Thursday, May 7. (Maja Hitij/ Getty) Germany has banned traumatising conversion therapy for people under the age of 18, and introduced penalties for adults, putting the UK and US to shame. On Thursday evening, May 7, the Bundestag passed a law which completely