A statutory ban on so-called conversion therapy in the UK is edging closer, following news that a government consultation is to be published.
Announcing a consultation, the government acknowledged that some forms of conversion therapy are already prohibited under existing criminal laws, such as physical abuse. However, this leaves Christians wondering what further activities are set to be criminalised.
Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss MP said: ‘We want to make sure that people in this country are protected, and these proposals mean nobody will be subjected to coercive and abhorrent conversion therapy’
Truss said the consultation will invite responses to ‘ensure that the ban can address the practice while protecting the medical profession; defending freedom of speech; and upholding religious freedom’.
Gay campaigners have criticised the announcement of a consultation on the basis that it delays the introduction of legislation.
Politicians in Northern Ireland (NI) have already given the go ahead for a ban on all forms of conversion therapy and work has reportedly begun around the drafting of legislation. Attempts by the Democratic Unionist Party to include an amendment protecting ‘legitimate religious activities’, including prayer and pastoral support, failed.
The Christian Institute (CI) has now threatened legal proceedings if the NI executive introduces a ban that prohibits ‘the wrong kind of prayer’.
CI recently secured a legal opinion from a leading human-rights barrister, Jason Coppell QC. He said Christian beliefs on sexuality are protected under Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights; that they ‘must be treated by the State with neutrality and impartiality’; and criminalising such beliefs ‘is particularly difficult to justify’.
He added: ‘One of the fundamental facets of freedom of religion or belief is the right of a religion to determine its own beliefs and practices’.
