An LGBTQ+ conversion therapy ban is bound to backfire

Advertising and promoting conversion ‘therapy’ to under 18s could soon be banned if a group of MPs get their way. Alicia Kearns, the Tory MP and leader of the Foreign Affairs committee, has laid an amendment to the Online Safety Bill which says ‘content which advertises or promotes the practice of so-called conversion practices of LGBTQ+ individuals must be considered as harmful’. 

What’s wrong with that? On the surface, the amendment sounds both innocuous and sensible. Of course, we would hope and expect that all MPs would be against persecution. But this amendment will have consequences that go far beyond that noble aim – with serious and dangerous results. 

If this amendment is passed, professionals simply trying to do their jobs could be accused of practising conversion therapy – because the amendment fails to define what it entails. 

Children questioning their biological sex have the right to receive clinical investigation before they are told their only solution is to become transgender. The amendment risks