Family

Youth

Future

FET response to consultation on conversion therapy

The Government is seeking views on how it goes about banning so-called conversion therapy. The consultation on this has been open for just six weeks, and closes tomorrow Friday 10 December at 11:45pm.

We are very concerned that ministers are ploughing ahead with this ban despite little evidence that such a drastic change in the law is necessary. Such measures could end up criminalising anyone who discusses gender identity with children.

The consultation seeks views on a package of proposed measures that will apply to England and Wales.

If you wish to submit a response you can do so online or via email on the links on government website.

The campaign group Sex Matters has a guide to understanding the government legislation.

We are extremely concerned that any ban on conversion therapy could potentially criminalise parents, teachers or anyone wishing to discuss gender identity and sexuality with children and prevent children and young people seeking help for issues surrounding mental health.

As a charity interested in protecting the welfare of families and children, we are deeply concerned about the potential impact on children of a ban on so called ‘conversion therapy’.

The law needs to protect the right of parents to bring up their children up in a way that is consistent with their moral and/or religious beliefs. Parents must not be reluctant to discuss issues around sexuality and gender with their children for fear of being accused of ‘conversion therapy’.

Children and young people as they grow up, and especially during puberty, often have questions around their sexuality and identity and it is important they are supported to explore their feelings and beliefs around this without fear of those providing support being accused of ‘conversion therapy’ whether this is in an informal family or pastoral support context or a more formal counselling or therapeutic context.

There is no consistent definition of what ‘conversion therapy’ is. Coercive and abusive practices are clearly wrong but the proposed ban is so broad it appears to attempt to impose highly contested social and political views in a manner that discriminates against those who don’t share such views. The recent resignation of Prof Kathleen Stock is but one recent example. To us, the statements made by those promoting a broadly scoped ban would criminalise anything other than immediate acceptance, encouragement and celebration of a child’s sexual or gender identity regardless of their age. The freedom of parents to sensitively discuss these issues with their children needs to be protected and parents should not have to fear prosecution for doing so.

Since the ban on conversion therapy would cover individuals who self-define as ‘transgender’ we fear that there could be a lack of help for vulnerable children and young people with gender identity issues and that qualified medical professionals who attempt to help these young people more broadly than simply affirming the child’s beliefs without looking at the wider context could be at risk of criminal sanctions. The proposed ban could have a similarly chilling effect upon parents who seek to help a gender dysphoric child. Under the current potentially wide definition of conversion therapy any exploration of underlying issues contributing to gender dysphoria could be deemed conversion therapy leaving the child or young person unable to be provided with the help they may well require and leading to subsequent regret as witnessed by the thousands of detransitioners now being documented in Europe and the US.[1]

This would be a tragedy because the evidence shows us that gender dysphoric feelings, especially in the young, are often fleeting and among young people who experience gender dysphoria only a minority persist with these feelings through into adulthood. For example, according to the American Psychiatric Association, in biological males, persistence has ranged from 2.2 to 30 per cent, and in biological females, from 12 to 50 per cent.[2] NHS England cites research showing that only 12-27 per cent of children who experience gender dysphoric feelings continue with them into adulthood.[3]

The report of the Care Quality Commission on the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust was highly critical of that service’s failure in many cases to assess the competency and capacity of young people receiving treatment for gender dysphoria and its lack of respect for staff who raised concerns.[4] A conversion therapy ban risks making the situation of such staff even more difficult and multiplying the deficits and errors found by the CQC.

The CQC report on the Tavistock referred to a parent who ‘said they felt like they were being pushed into doing things they didn’t want to do.’ Dr David Bell affirmed that 35-40% of children presenting for gender dysphoria at the Tavistock were on the autistic spectrum.[5] The CQC criticised the Tavistock for giving insufficient consideration to the special needs of these children. Such abuses may be exacerbated by a conversion therapy ban.

We acknowledge that the judgment in Keira Bell’s case has now been overturned pending a likely further appeal but this case remains instructive. Permanent damage was done to Keira Bell’s body. She stated: ‘I don’t know if I will ever really look like a woman again…I feel I was a guinea pig at the Tavistock, and I don’t think anyone knows what will happen to my body in the future’.[6] Clearly, Keira Bell changed her gender identity. From self-defining as transgender she subsequently repudiated this identity. If a conversion therapy ban were passed it may make it more difficult for vulnerable young people like Keira Bell to speak out for fear of being accused of conversion therapy. And would anyone be allowed to help her other than to affirm her in a transgender identity which she ultimately didn’t want?

Laws have consequences. A teenager in genuine need of help with gender identity issues may not seek it for fear that they would fall under the ban.

You can read our full response below:

DWE Banning Conversion Therapy FET Response

 

References

[1] See https://post-trans.com/Detransition-English

[2] American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-5, 5th edition, 2013, 302.85, Gender Dysphoria in Adolescents and Adults, p.455.

[3] NHS England, ‘NHS Standard Contract For Gender Identity Development Service For Children And Adolescents’, 2019.

[4] Care Quality Commission, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust Gender Identity services Inspection report, 20 January 2021.

[5] Cathy Newman, ‘Children have been very seriously damaged’ by NHS gender clinic, says former Tavistock staff governor, Channel 4, 23 January 2021.

[6] Quoted in Amie Gordon, Campaigners say ‘common sense has prevailed’ as High Court rules children under 16 are unlikely to be able to give ‘informed consent’ to take puberty blockers, Daily Mail, 1 December 2020.

 

 

 

 

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