Why is Conversion Therapy so Important in the UK?

The Government’s Refusal of Equality

In 2018, Theresa May promised to outlaw the practices that attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

On May 29th, 2019 the World Health Organisation declassified being transgender as a mental disorder. This was an important yet delayed step to aid the rights of transgender people worldwide.

Before this, transgenderism was seen as something to fix, something that could be cured and should be cured. The most commonly used method of treating transgender people was conversion therapy, the focus of this very article.

Conversion Therapy is a practice that uses a combination of pseudo-scientific counselling sessions; the ingestion of “purifying” substances; corrective rape; and more experiences that many would consider cruel and traumatic to any individual.

On April 1st, 2022, news outlets across the country confirmed that the government had made a U-turn for the ban on transgender conversion therapy, making it clear that it will not be banned and will face further review. For transgender individuals all around the country, this must’ve felt like a cruel April fool’s joke but it continued and the future for trans youth became uncertain and worrying for many.

In a report by Stonewall, it was found that up to five per cent of LGBT+ people have been pressured into seeking services that question or change their sexual orientation or gender identity. This number increase to nine per cent when applied to Black, Asian, and minority ethnic LGBT+ people.

Even more surprising is that up to 20 per cent of transgender people have been pressured to suppress their gender identity when they access healthcare services!

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So, you may be wondering why the government has decided to do this? Although we cannot see into the minds of ministers that make these decisions, we can construct a general consensus of the reasoning behind the decision.

On May 12th, 2022 the government issued a statement on the petition to “Ensure Trans people are fully protected under any conversion therapy ban.” In the statement, the cabinet office has stated that:

One of the complexities is that those who experience gender dysphoria may seek talking therapy. It is vital that legitimate support is not inadvertently impacted.

This statement is problematic and this is because conversion therapy is a procedure that aims to suppress and “cure” someone’s gender identity, this differs largely from talking therapies that are used to aid people with dysphoria. The main difference to highlight is that conversion therapy aims to suppress an identity whereas talking therapy aims to help a person explore and understand their identity.

It is understandable to want to avoid inadvertently impacting talking therapies as these can be necessary for transgender people to get to grips with themselves and who they truly are. However, conversion therapy is rarely exclusive to talking to the individual, it often includes some of the other practices mentioned above. It is important to outlaw these practices specifically as soon as possible and to review the talking therapies too to ensure there are no inadvertent effects.

An interview with the Prime Minister himself found that he believed a ban on conversion therapy would harm children with gender doubts. This is based on the assumption that children with doubts about their assigned gender at birth (AGAB) will be put through irreversible medical transition before they are fully sure of themselves, therefore justifying conversion therapy to correct these doubts. However, this will lead to more children being traumatised by the practices of conversion therapy (up to 20 per cent of gender doubting children!)

The Prime Minister doesn’t want to outlaw parental involvement in the decision-making process of a child however a ban on conversion therapy would not stop this. A parent will remain to have a right to encourage a child to think in any particular direction that the parent believes is right for the child. It is very uncommon for children to go through irreversible medical transition as it is often discouraged by medical professionals as young people are often encouraged to wait until adulthood. Cases, where children have transitioned, are usually the result of a strong desire to transition that convinces professionals that there is a need to transition.

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When referring to conversion therapy and gender-questioning adults, the reasons change. The most common argument for conversion therapy in adults is that it will make people more sure of their identity and therefore it’ll prevent destransition. However, this is not the case.

In 3rd biennal EPATH Conference Inside Matters. On Law, Ethics and Religion — Detransition rates in a national UK Gender Identity Clinic conducted by Skye Davies, Stephen McIntyre, Craig Rypma (Page 118), a sample of 3,398 medically-transitioned patients that had appointments at an NHS Gender Identity Service between 2016 and 2017 were interviewed. It was found that 16 (0.47%) patients had experienced transition-related regret or had transitioned. One of these 16 had shown transition-related regret but had no desire to detransition.

Using really rough calculations we understand the UK has a population of 67.22 million. It is estimated that 650,000 people are gender-diverse (~1% of the population) and 0.47% of these people will regret transition assuming they would all want to go through medical transition. That means that 3055 people will have transition-related regrets, that’s 0.0045% of the British population! This information alone should be enough evidence that detransition is not a big risk to our medical services or to society as a whole.

Overall, it is incredibly important to understand this issue as it actively denies people’s rights to be themselves.

 It is also significant for global affairs as the UK has an influence on the politics of many western nations and this is a large step back for the international community, especially with the diverse and promoted inclusion within the UK.

If you want to help, make sure to support Stonewall, and your local LGBT+ charities by volunteering and donating, protesting alongside LGBT+ people, or using social media to get the message heard!