Transgender people will be protected under plans to ban conversion therapy - says Truss

Stonewall added: “It is vital that the forthcoming legislative ban promised by government protects trans people from conversion therapy in all its forms, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, religious and cultural practices.”

Cultural practices? Gender is cultural practices. But surely if this is applied logically it means any attempt to steer girls away from sex stereotype would be banned? All those girls into STEM programs? Attempts to encourage women into the boardroom or preventing teenage pregnancies?

I personally believe in the concept of sex conversion therapy for children. It has all the hallmarks of traditional conversion therapy. Take something that is immutable - a person’s sex - and try and change it to something it isn’t based on ideological beliefs and the idea that there is something “wrong” with the child, whilst causing physical harm to the child.

However when the legislation in Queensland was passed, it contained a deliberate part that exempt people from such accusations. Which is convenient .

Overall however, it’s reasonable. Importantly it states what is not conversion therapy when it comes to gender, which includes actions that could be perceived as not affirming.

healthlegal.com.au/current-news/conversion-therapy-banned-queensland/

If conversion means changing one thing into another...isn't that the exact definition and goal of transgenderism?

The definition is encapsulated in the prefix 'trans'. Transforming and converting the superficial bodily characteristics from one appearance to another; or else just a magical, intangible 'inner' conversion which is reflected through the use of pronouns and names.

Honestly, this is all so woolly and unthought through as to be ridiculous. Stonewalled.

I’m not in favour of banning adult transition, but I think any objective look at the available evidence suggests it should not be funded by the NHS. A recent high profile study found no evidence of benefits from cross-sex hormones (and the supply of hormones is low so they should be rationed and prioritised for the people who ARE helped by them.) The study wouldn’t have been published, certainly not in the high profile journal it was accepted to, except for the part where it did find evidence of minor psychological benefits from reassignment surgery. But they had to retract that bit because their analysis was wrong.

Has anyone ever seen substantive evidence of long term benefits from medical transitioning? I appreciate that there are short term benefits.

This was posted on the Merched Cymru FB page yesterday - references Transgender Trend and the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine. The dangers of including gender identity in the ban are so obvious. But evidence/reality don't seem to feature much in this campaign.

AFFIRMATION: THE NEW CONVERSION THERAPY
Today Liz Truss appeared to suggest that gender identity would be included in legislation to ban 'conversion therapy'.
Such a ban would potentially criminalise counsellors who wished to treat the whole person, to explore the impact of co-morbidities and to consider all the factors that might be contributing to their gender distress. Critically, it would outlaw any approach that allowed for the (highly likely) possibility that the patient would, post puberty, come to terms with their biological sex, and their sexual orientation. Some 90% of young people do just that.
Children and young people with gender dysphoria need and deserve supportive, compassionate, and evidence-based care. By conflating ethical psychotherapy with conversion therapy, the proposed legislation will put that care, and gender non-conforming young people, at serious risk.
Please read and share our paper on this topic
AFFIRMATION: THE NEW CONVERSION THERAPY.
merchedcymru.wales/where-we-stand-on-conversion.../

There are people who find it comfortable to be ultra thin
Dies not mean we support that

People do need much more support to be happy in themselves , to understand that society expectations are not hard and fast rules

I’m not sure you could ban all transitioning because there are some people that undoubtedly find comfort in presenting as a member of the opposite sex but I think careful psychiatric exploration before any transition would be helpful.

Well I think they should totally ban conversion therapy, there is no need to change anything about trans people including their bodies

Given all the issues related to teenage girls and their gender, I cannot see Lizz Truss blocking therapists from discussing trans teen issues as this includes a high number of autistic kids. She would be setting them on a pathway where drugs and surgery might be the outcome. Given that the public are not in this space, I think she will ensure 'conversion' is properly thought out. However, there will be a lot of Stonewalling so we'll see where that takes us - a long way to go on this road

The above should be against the law however the pernicious part of this is that TRAs are being deliberately obtuse about the expansion of the term conversion therapy to include actual therapy regarding body issues, sexuality or anything that goes against the current gendered soul dogma.

Indeed.

I’m yet to see evidence of what constitutes trans conversion therapy in terms of a psychological approach...

Given some countries encourage (force?) / convert gay people to become trans they are so homophobic, this needs an extremely careful analysis.

”I’m very clear that we want to make sure that transgender people are free to live their lives and don’t face the type of horrific conversion therapy that currently has been going on here in the UK.”

Details of this current wave of horrific conversion therapy are necessary to unpack this statement. I have no idea what she is talking about, which is concerning. Does she have evidence for this, or has she been told about it by the usual unreliable sources, I wonder?

The vast majority of people are rightfully against conversion therapy often utilised by religious fundamentalists for 'fixing' homosexuality.

No doubt trans people are subject to the same unacceptable treatment given the sort of people carrying this practice will still perceive the 'patient' as homosexual regardless of how they identify.

The above should be against the law however the pernicious part of this is that TRAs are being deliberately obtuse about the expansion of the term conversion therapy to include actual therapy regarding body issues, sexuality or anything that goes against the current gendered soul dogma.

I find it interesting that the focus is pretty much entirely on trans people with LGB people getting barely a mention.

'“I’m very clear that we want to make sure that transgender people are free to live their lives and don’t face the type of horrific conversion therapy that currently has been going on here in the UK.”

What do they mean by this? What has been going on?

Is this about forcing children to adhere to gender norms? Is there a religious component as there has been with conversion 'therapy' for homosexual people?

I have no idea. It would be useful to understand more. I might Google.

'Stonewall added: “It is vital that the forthcoming legislative ban promised by government protects trans people from conversion therapy in all its forms, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, religious and cultural practices.”'

This is very troubling. Given what i have read, it means outlawing any kind of councelling.

The thing that struck me is that everyone is raised to a greater or lesser extent to conform to gender role. Plenty struggle against it, many women, many feminists. I did.

So is the pervasive pressure to conform that goes through the whole of society going to be illegal?

Have they clarified what qualifies as conversion therapy?