Medical professionals have classified the practice as harmful.
Following a long campaign from LGBT+ advocates, the UK government is finally set to ban conversion therapy.
The practice, which attempts to change the identities of LGBT+ people, has long been classified as both ineffective and harmful by mainstream medical bodies.
In her most recent speech, Queen Elizabeth II announced plans to outlaw the practice in the UK.
The monarch also touched upon measures to address racial inequality and discrimination.
“Measures will be brought forward to address racial and ethnic disparities and ban conversion therapy,” she said yesterday morning.
The charity Stonewall defines conversion therapy as, “medical, psychiatric, psychological, religious, cultural or any other interventions that seek to erase, repress or change the sexual orientation and/or gender identity of a person.”
The UK government first put forward a motion to ban the practice in 2018.
We welcome the commitment to a legal ban but there can be no more delays. The abuse of LGBTQIA+ people will continue while the UK Government consults with those who seek to do us harm. Either you protect us or you don’t. #BanConversionTherapy #QueensSpeech https://t.co/78YsKUohTu
— Stonewall (@stonewalluk) May 11, 2021
Last year, PM Boris Johnson described conversion therapy as “abhorrent” and said it had “no place in a civilised society”.
In Ireland, campaigners have been calling on the government to ban conversion therapy.
As it stands, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth have prepared a scoping paper on a proposed ban, and are working with the Department of Health to put forward proposals.
Ireland’s Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman, recently told The Journal that the government “must be proactive in banning practices that not only propagandise harmful and discriminatory messages, but ones that also have serious negative consequences on a young person’s mental health, with the potential to inflict long-lasting damage”.
He continued: “Legislating for a ban on conversion therapy will send a clear and unambiguous message to everyone, both younger and older, that a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is not up for debate.”
