While the harms of conversion practices must not be minimised or dismissed there are genuine concerns around the scope and intention of the government’s draft Conversion Practices Bill.

If there is evidence of practices going on which harm LGB and trans-identified people, the first line of action should be to deal with them via existing law, or via regulatory systems for professions, schools, and public bodies. However, evidence of the need for new legislation is weak.

The additional costs of this legislation to both the public and private sectors raises questions about government priorities and risks the public losing faith in an already overburdened justice system. This bill will be perceived by many, including within the LGB community, as intrusive, unnecessary and totally out of step with the concerns of voters.

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