Queen Elizabeth II announced today that the U.K. government will introduce measures to ban conversion therapy as one of its priorities in a “post-COVID” world. The news, which came in the midst of the queen’s first major public event since the death of Prince Phillip, was issued alongside the promise of measures to address “racial and ethnic disparities” as well, though the government’s prior studies of these disparities have been criticized.
According to the BBC, the public and “interested parties” will be polled on how to best implement the ban, which will apply to both sexuality and gender identity. The U.K. government aims to ensure that “professionals, such as therapists, can still help people fully explore their gender identity,” as the news publication reports, although it did not elaborate on what this would entail.
Many LGBTQ+ advocates celebrated the announcement, which has been discussed since former Prime Minister Theresa May first announced a plan to ban conversion therapy in 2018. Member of Parliament Alicia Kearns, who led the campaign to ban conversion therapy, said in a statement that the queen’s speech sent a “very powerful message” to LGBTQ+ Britons.
“Love is not a pathology, and it does not need treating,” Kearns said. “LGBTQ+ so-called Conversion Therapy is little more than bigotry and quackery packaged up by sinister charlatans to snare and profit off the vulnerable.”
Kearns added that the ban was a “tribute to the survivors of conversion therapy, to those whose lives were lost too soon because of this abhorrent abuse, and to all those hurting or made ashamed for being who they are.” According to Kearns, the planned effort also represents the U.K. government’s attempts to “ensure that LGBTQ+ people have the liberty to live their lives free from identity-based violence and abuse.”
But others, like Stonewall U.K. CEO Nancy Kelley, expressed concern over the vagueness of the ban, as well the fact that a public comment period would only further delay its implementation.
“We don’t need a consultation to know that all practices that seek to convert, suppress, cure or change us are dangerous, abusive and must be banned,” Kelley said in a statement. “Lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex and ace communities have been waiting almost three years for the UK Government to follow through on their promise to ban all conversion practices, and any delay leaves us at further risk of abuse.”
