For now, Conservatives call a halt to 'transing the gay away'

An end to conversion therapy by stealth?

Worried parents of gay and gender nonconforming children can breathe a sigh of relief as the Conservatives put the brakes on fast-tracking them onto a medical pathway with lifetime repercussions.

ITN has reported on a leaked document that states the Government will shelve plans—aggressively pushed by trans rights activists—to ban ‘conversion therapy’ for those who self-describe as ‘trans’. As ‘trans’ has yet to be defined in any meaningful way (witness the utter insanity of the James Wallis case), and Mermaids’ favourite doctors Helen and Mike Webberley are currently having their reckless disregard for children exposed to public scrutiny, this means that the Conservatives are currently the only party defending gender nonconforming young people. What a time to be alive.

Maya Forstater, Executive Director of Sex matters, said of the news: “This news comes as a huge relief. Doctors are supposed to do no harm. Gender-distressed children have been ill-served by the ideological approach that has become common in recent years. Waiting for the final Cass Review is obviously the right thing to do. There is now an opportunity to hear a wider variety of voices and look at the evidence before rushing into legislation that would have harmed the very people it was supposed to help.”

Transgender Trend: We are very pleased the government has announced that it is abandoning plans for a conversion therapy bill. We applaud the government for listening to and taking seriously the concerns of clinical professionals and parents, rather than being swayed by activists for the sake of scoring political points. This is a good decision for the protection of children and young people experiencing gender-related distress, and the government must be commended for putting children first.

The proposed conversion therapy bill was muddled and open to interpretation, exposing children and young people to further risk of an ideology-based approach which only confirms a transgender identity.

Children experiencing gender dysphoria deserve the highest standard of clinical care in line with other paediatric mental health support services, as highlighted in the Cass Interim Report. A legal ban on ‘transgender conversion therapy’ would have further politicised an area of child and adolescent care that urgently needs to be separated from politics and ideology.

The Cass Interim Report makes clear that clinicians and therapists already feel pressure to adopt an unquestioning ‘affirmation’ approach to children who self-identify as ‘transgender’ and that this is “at odds with the standard process of clinical assessment and diagnosis that they have been trained to undertake in all other clinical encounters.”

The fight isn’t over yet, but today’s news is a welcome step and significant step in the right direction.