On March 31st, the government finally announced its plans to ban conversion therapy. Although late, it should still have been a cause for celebration. Instead, it has become yet another warning sign of how prevalent transphobia has become in the UK.
Here is a run-down of what happened, why it happened, and why it’s a cause for concern.
What happened?
Conversion therapy is a practice operating under the false assumption that being LGBTQ+ is a mental illness and can therefore be cured. It attempts to change a person’s sexuality or gender identity but has been widely discredited and proven to be harmful to those undergoing it. The UK government pledged to ban conversion therapy in 2018, but leaked government documents on March 31st this year showed plans to scrap a ban of the practice. After this leak, the government announced that it had reversed this decision and would ban conversion therapy after all - with one catch. The ban only covers conversion therapy targeted at changing a person’s sexuality, leaving conversion therapy for trans people legal.
This double U-turn appears incomprehensible at first: why go back on the pledge to ban conversion therapy, only to go through with it in the end? But once I thought about it, the back-and-forth didn’t seem incomprehensible at all and rather like a tactic employed to push this plan without massive backlash about the exclusion of trans people. With the threat of no ban in the air, a partial ban appears better than no ban at all, and people would be less likely to complain. It’s a tactic to shift the focus from questions about the exclusion to relief that the government went through with the ban. We’re supposed to be content with what we’re given, relieved that we got anything at all, even if it compromises our own values and morals. It’s the lesser of two evils, except that both evils were entirely fabricated by the government: It was their choice to reverse their previous promise, and their choice to put forward a half-ban.
How did it come to this?
But, sadly, this turn of events is not surprising. Trans people have been under attack in the UK for several years now, a campaign of hatred and misplaced fear ramped up by the media and public figures. TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) and so-called gender critical people have gained more prominence, supported by celebrities like JK Rowling and organisations like LGB Alliance. According to them, trans people, and trans women in particular, are a menace not only to society at large, but to the LGBQ+ community itself. Division among the community is becoming a prevalent issue, with groups such as ‘Get the L Out’ creating disruption and spreading misinformation and bigotry.
The rhetoric used by these people sounds very familiar: Trans people are a danger to children, they’re predatory, they attack women, they want to convert everyone, they’re infiltrating safe spaces, and on it goes, without any evidence to back up the claims. It sounds familiar because it is. These are the same arguments that were used in the 70s and 80s to support homophobic behaviour and legislation. Whenever I see the angry tweets from transphobes, I am reminded of Anita Bryant who made it her crusade in the 70s to push against gay rights.
I could refer to a variety of tweets here, but there is little point in further spreading the vile, hateful transphobia. But if you are so curious, it’s a trending topic every other week, most recently in reference to a 2019 interview with Emma Watson in which she voiced her support of trans women, a simple statement that incited a lot of rage on Twitter. Or look up athlete Lia Thomas who was recently under attack for winning a race. It was interesting to watch people on Twitter get angry over it while her fellow competitors showed nothing but support for her.
Every time I have seen a story about a trans woman attacking a cis woman - whether it is in bathrooms or hospitals - they are quickly refuted as made up. It’s no surprise to me. Men have, unfortunately, more than enough power to attack and abuse women already, without going to the extreme lengths of posing as trans women (something that would only put them at risk of attacks). But making mountains out of the tiniest molehills is the daily goal of TERFs and with the support of celebrities, transphobic organisations, and the government those mountains are given the validity that makes them dangerous.
How does this affect the LGBTQ+ community?
It should be needless to say that conversion therapy is harmful to any queer person, whether they’re cis or trans. However, trans people are more likely to undergo conversion therapy or be offered it, so it is incredibly vital for a ban to include this group. This particular exclusion, especially as it happened on Trans Day of Visibility, is another slap in the face for the trans community after a row of many before, and seemingly many yet to come. The state of trans people’s mental health, especially young people, is at a crisis point, with many struggling to cope with this onslaught of transphobia from the media and government, on top of what is already a daily struggle with prejudice, discrimination, and dysphoria.
The problem of this partial ban extends to cis people as well. If the desperate pleas from the trans community don’t move you to action, then ask yourself: Is a partial ban even a ban at all? If conversion therapy is still legal when it is targeted toward trans people, what’s to stop people from subjecting cis queer people to it? It’ll be easy enough to claim that the person is sent to conversion therapy, not for their sexuality, but because they are trans, or suspected of it. Especially if the person is gender nonconforming, which many cis queer people are, the reasoning doesn’t have to stretch too far. Those in favour of conversion therapy won’t mind whether the person they are hurting is cis or trans.
The rhetoric of TERFs and gender-critical people also raises the question of “What makes a woman?” and their answers are nothing short of misogynistic to all women, cis or trans. “What makes a woman?” you’ll ask them, and they’ll tell you it’s the ability to give birth, it’s having a vagina, it’s experiencing menstruation, it’s the level of estrogen in their body, it’s a variety of physical characteristics that not even all cisgender women meet. This reverse of reducing women to their bodies is misogynistic and leads down a dangerous road of policing women’s bodies and autonomy. While claiming to be true feminists in defence of true women, these people are creating a standard of womanhood that only a fraction of women meet, and by doing so are playing into the hands of a misogynistic society.
This half-ban is a farce, a badly intentioned balancing act to please everyone, and failing to protect anyone at all. Conversion therapy will continue and queer people, trans and cis alike, will continue to suffer under it unless the government puts a stop to it - with no exceptions. It is only one stop on a long road of anti-trans sentiments in this country, a road that inevitably will lead to more homophobia and misogyny. If they can get away with throwing trans people under the bus, why would they stop there? Why not police the rights of LGBQ+ people and women too?
What can you do?
We have to protect children, this much is true. But it’s not trans people they need to be protected from, it’s governments, media, and other adults in their life revoking their freedom to be who they are. The LGBTQ+ community as well as its allies must show up for trans people now more than ever, especially trans children so that they don’t have to suffer what many before them suffered. We need a ban on conversion therapy, with no exceptions and excuses, so that every LGBTQ+ person may live their lives freely without fear of practice with devastating consequences.
To any parent, guardian, or teacher, it is vital that you show support to your children and allow them to exist freely and safely. To anyone with trans people in their lives, it’s vital that you voice your support and be there for them in times like this. To anyone else, I encourage you to have an open mind and learn that trans people are just like everyone else - we come in all shapes and forms and the majority of us are really just ordinary people trying to live our lives.
Sign this petition to voice your support for a conversion therapy ban that includes all LGBTQ+
people.
Email your MP and ask them to support a full ban on conversion therapy.
Attend protests in your area if you can and openly voice your support of trans people.
Support charities such as Gendered Intelligence and MermaidsUK which support trans people and fight for trans rights in the UK.