Category: Conversion therapy

The draft Conversion Practices Bill: who is it for and how would it work?

When the debate about conversion practices (then more usually called conversion therapy) started a little while ago I was struck most obviously by the lack of clarity of definition of conversion therapy/practices and also by the poor evidence (reading as a researcher) about its effects. One interesting find was a study of same-sex attracted individuals affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints¹, 720 of whom provided unstructured comments on their experiences of therapy, in addition to completing structured assessments. The authors note, of these comments “Many found therapy to be a helpful, even life-saving experience. To be able to talk to a knowledgeable professional about a very private concern was salutary. Others reported improved relationships with family or other close associates. Of particular interest was the large number of individuals who reported decreased levels of depression and anxiety and improved feelings of self-worth…For some participants, psychotherapy was clearly unrewarding. As a general rule, however, experiences of harm or iatrogenic distress were much less frequent than reports of benefit.”

Conversion practice is defined in terms of the intention of the practitioner rather than of any inherent characteristics of the practice. The definition of abusive conversion practice on the other hand is said to be a matter of fact based upon the presence of certain defining characteristics; they include “words…of a sexual nature” and “use of psychological or emotional pressure” the latter apparently not the same as controlling or coercive words or behaviour and not further described. The offence of carrying out an abusive conversion practice is defined according to the effects of whatever practice is being considered. One of its features is causing serious alarm or distress which is apparently not the same as causing serious harm to somebody’s mental health. If the same “conversion practice” is found to help one person and distress another, is the practitioner guilty of two offences or one?

There is an offence of encouraging or assisting abusive conversion practice on a UK individual (to include anybody who is habitually resident in the UK and not necessarily a citizen). That offence consists in doing something that is capable of encouraging or assisting another person in an abusive conversion practice rather than in actually encouraging or assisting them, the abusiveness defined because the practice is likely to cause rather than has caused serious harm and there is in fact no need for a conversion practice to have taken place at all.

Nowhere in the bill is there mention of whether the practice has taken place with or without the consent of the individual involved. The bill gives the court powers to make an order- a so-called conversion practice protection order – for the purpose of protecting an individual against abusive conversion practices. The court must have regard to all the circumstances which include but are not apparently restricted to the need to secure the health safety and well-being of the individual to be protected. The aim is presumably to protect vulnerable individuals but there is no mention of what vulnerabilities might make the order necessary.

To somebody outside the law it is difficult to see where the new offences fit in. That is already legislation related to coercive and controlling behaviour, and sexual orientation and transgender identity are already protected characteristics. Without more precision I can’t see how we can have confidence that a new Bill will protect an otherwise unprotected and vulnerable group, without triggering a round of litigation that will itself be harmful to some of those involved.

1. Kate Bradshaw, John P. Dehlin, Katherine A. Crowell, Renee V. Galliher & William S. Bradshaw (2015) Sexual Orientation Change Efforts Through Psychotherapy for LGBQ Individuals Affiliated With the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 41:4, 391-412, DOI: 10.1080/0092623X.2014.915907