Conversion therapy: Prohibition

[hoteltango]

I know very little about this, but Kathleen Stock retweeted this:

twitter.com/STILLTish/status/1153995960072253440

Private Members bill by Geraint Davies MP. Has had its first reading.

"Conversion therapy: Prohibition

(1) It shall be an offence for any person to practice, or to offer to practice conversion therapy.

(2) In this Act, 'conversion therapy' is any form of therapy which demonstrates an assumption that any sexual orientation or gender identity is inherently preferable to any other and attempts to--
(a) change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, or
(b) suppress a person's expression of sexual orientation or gender identity.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale."

Wiser minds than mine could articulate better than I can why this doesn't make sense. All I can think of so far is a parent of a transing teen (or younger) opting for watchful waiting - would that be classed as "suppressing" as in (b)?

Every formerly gay child that enters a gender clinic and emerges 'straight' would
result in the clinic finding themselves foul of such a law.
Every female child that enters a clinic and is converted to be a 'male'.
Every support group, every training organisation that espouses 'be your authentic self, let us help you change your gender and reverse your sexual orientation' would have broken this law.

TRAs have a great deal to fear if this law passed.

It's dangerous legislation.

In the state in which I live and practice medicine in the US, we have a conversion therapy law that passed several years ago. Practitioners (mental health professionals, physicians, counselors, etc.) must affirm sexual orientation and gender identity. Other approaches can result in the loss of one's professional license.

I fully support measures aimed at ending conversion therapy targeted at homosexuals. However, because of this legislation, I cannot tell a child or adolescent to wait a bit longer before committing to a new gender identity. I could lose everything. Instead, I'm stuck pretty consistently referring them to one of our area gender clinics for evaluation, (and yes, we have many). We all know how this story ends...

Don't let this happen in the UK.