Boris Johnson ‘backtracks on conversion therapy ban’ after backlash
Reports say the ban is set to go forward, but doesn’t include trans people
Last updated 29th May 2022
Boris Johnson has been forced to retreat after receiving backlash due to an announcement that ministers were abandoning plans to ban so-called conversion therapy.
The Prime Minister was said to have "changed his mind" after seeing the reaction to the announcement, and that the legislation would cover "only gay conversion therapy, not trans".
There was no immediate official response from Downing Street - although there was no attempt to suggest the latest report was incorrect.
A Government spokesman had earlier confirmed before the retreat, that they were looking instead at ways of preventing it through existing law and "other non-legislative measures".
Why is there backlash over the banning of conversion therapy?
On Thursday evening, a leaked Downing Street briefing paper seen by ITV News showed that Mr Johnson had dropped plans for the ban.
The backlash followed the leak of the briefing paper which said "the PM has agreed we should not move forward with legislation" to outlaw the practice.
Hours later, Number 10 U-turned again, with a senior Government source quoted as saying the ban would feature in the next Queen's Speech.
However, it was reported that the legislation would cover "only gay conversion therapy, not trans".
The "U-turn on the U-turn" came just a day after Equalities Minister Mike Freer had assured MPs that the Government was "wholly committed" to legislation, and that work was "progressing at pace".
However, the briefing paper said neither he nor Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who is also Equalities Minister, had been told of the decision not to go ahead.
"While Liz is not ideologically committed to the legislation, she is likely to be concerned about owning the new position, having personally committed to delivering the Bill," it said.
It also warned that Mr Freer could resign, and that the Prime Minister's special envoy on LGBT issues, Lord Herbert, may also consider his position.
The LBGT community are being “thrown under the bus”
Jayne Ozanne, a former government LGBT adviser who survived 20 years of conversion therapy, said vulnerable people were being "thrown under the bus".
"This is the Prime Minister's decision, and the Prime Minister has shown his true colours with regard to the LGBT community," she says.
She added, "I think he thought he could get away with it, but this will horrify, I am sure, people right across the country who have believed frankly for years that this should have been banned."
Stephen Fry, actor and broadcaster, tweeted: "Just when I thought my contempt for this disgusting government couldn't sink lower. A curse upon the whole lying, stinking lot of them."
"The government should just keep to its promises"
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has suggested the Government's double U-turn on the banning of conversion therapy was meant as a distraction from the cost-of-living crisis.
Sir Keir, speaking on a visit to Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on Friday, said that "all conversion therapy in all its forms is wrong", after Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced to reaffirm his commitment to banning so-called conversion therapy.
He added, “The Government should just keep to its promises on this.
"But look, let's be honest and clear about what's happening today - the Government is trying to get us all to talk about conversion therapy because they don't want us focusing on the cost-of-living crisis, on the increase in energy bills, where they've got such a pathetic response.”
Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s shadow equalities secretary said: "This outrageous decision shows you simply can't trust a word Boris Johnson says.
"A government that believes conversion therapy is acceptable in 21st century Britain is no friend of the LGBT+ community."
Liberal Democrat equalities spokeswoman Wera Hobhouse said it's "giving the green light to a form of torture in the UK and "is an utter betrayal of the LGBT+ community."
What is so-called conversion therapy?
Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to change or suppress someone's sexuality or gender identity.
The NHS have warned all forms of conversion therapy are "unethical and potentially harmful", and mental wellbeing charity Mind condemns it as something which has "a terrible impact on a person's mental health".
The briefing document warns that abandoning the plan now would provoke a "noisy backlash" from LGBT groups and from some MPs.
It suggests the announcement could be made in this year's Queen's Speech in May, so it could be presented as a matter of "prioritising" the Government's legislative programme and was not singling out a LGBT issue.
It says they could argue that: "Given the unprecedented circumstances of major pressures on cost of living and the crisis in Ukraine, there is an urgent need to rationalise our legislative programme."
Will it be banned in the UK?
The Government pledged to end conversion therapy in 2018, under Theresa May.
It was announced government would be bringing forward legislation in last year's Queen's Speech after ministers originally promised a new law.
But in March 2021, three advisers quit the Government's LGBT advisory panel over worries it was acting too slowly on the ban.
One of the advisers, Jayne Ozanne, accused ministers of creating a "hostile environment" for LGBT people.
It’s already outlawed in several other countries; Brazil is reported to be the first country to ban conversion therapy relating to sexual orientation in 1999.
Many countries have followed, imposing a full or partial ban since including Samoa, Canada, Germany, Mexico and parts of Australia.
Multiple US states have also banned the practice, with the exception of religious organisations.