The proposed legislation is NOTHING to do with "Conversion Therapy" of any description.
There is very little evidence that "gay conversion therapy" (in the usual sense) is a problem now - although it used to be in the past.
Discussion about "defining" gender identity is missing the point and purpose of this legislation. It does not matter how it is defined.
It is a Trojan Horse to get "gender identity", however it is defined, into UK Legislation as a backdoor to Self-ID.
Kate Harris of LGBA explains this in this video (linked to the point where Kate begins to talk about this issue):
There is a lot of discussion but these are the key points extracted:
Kate Harris:
We have a battle coming up about Conversion Therapy. Everybody knows this is a non-issue. Going to any gay or lesbian club, what's top of your mind it isn't Conversion Therapy.
There is no evidence to suggest this is a problem for gays and lesbians.
This is a Trojan Horse purely to get the two words "gender identity" on the statute book. This has been done successfully . . .
Bev Jackson:
But also it's one of the main issues in which words have been sort of turned upside down and inside out so that nobody knows what they're talking about.
Because of course the real issue of Conversion Therapy that that we're profoundly worried about is 15 year old girls who say that they're boys, who are put on a route to having their breasts removed and having beard growth and eventually becoming sterile.
I mean that is the, you know, the sterilisation of lesbians, that's real conversion therapy. But the way it's presented is actually upside down and back to front and 99% of the public do not understand this issue.
And you know, whenever I try to explain it, it takes me, literally I timed it, eight and a half minutes to explain it. Usually. If i've only got five minutes, it just doesn't work.
Helen Staniland:
Yes, I hadn't considered the angle of actually getting the term "gender identity" on the statute books. I think that's an incredibly important point which hadn't occurred to me but I think I think you're right, and that this is really dangerous, and that this has to be opposed, doesn't it? For that reason alone.
Bev Jackson:
Yes, it's unfortunate because Kate says this every single week and nobody really picks it up. Nobody really understands what's going on. It's really difficult to explain.
Kate Harris:
So our job over the next few months is the boring work, the writing lots of letters, the campaigning. Because if we make gender identity legally recognised, it opens the way to Self-ID, and that is what the Conversion Therapy Bills around the world are for.
It is nothing to do with gender, uh, conversion therapy.
So we have to we have to do the boring work of explaining this to people.
Gender identity is a feeling. Have that feeling, have that belief but it has no basis in law and no place on any statute book of any government with a brain.
It's important that we focus on our duty to lobby politicians, not to suck up to mad celebrities (Matt Lucas) who don't know what they're talking about.
Kate Harris:
But the question is, and I can see it popping up in the comments, "What can we do?"
Kate Harris:
What we can do is to stand up and speak. Challenge.
Every time somebody says something that you disagree with, challenge them. You can do it in a pleasant way, you can be polite, you can be perfectly civil, but without dialogue we're not going anywhere.
At the moment it feels almost as if we're in a state of war, and that's a frightening thing to say.
But the damage cannot go on for another generation, we have to stop it now. We've seen enough people, enough young people whose lives have been ruined. We've seen the detransitioners. If you care about this, speak up. Speak up at work, you have the Forstater judgment now behind you.
If in doubt, ask for help. You can contact us and we'll do our best.
But fundamentally the next big campaign is going to be around the Conversion Therapy Bill. So we're going to ask you to write letters, and
that's really boring.
Another thing that you can do, and this is very easy, is get a piece of paper and an envelope and write to Number 10. Whatever you think about Boris Johnson in other areas, if you please write to him and thank him for standing up for LGB Alliance. That will help us survive and our survival is not secure.
So anything you can do in terms of writing letters to Number 10 and getting ready for the Conversion Therapy Bill - and challenge, challenge, challenge. That's the way we win.
Graham Linehan:
Yes and also I would remind people that if you were asked at work to put your pronouns in your signature, you were being asked to go along with essentially a religion that you don't agree with. So feel free, you know, do challenge that too, because it's those little . . .
Kate Harris:
And Graham, something really, really important which I'm so sorry I haven't mentioned, and that's the GRA in Scotland, that is terrifying.
We've already challenged that once, we challenged it 2019 to 2020, it's back and we have to challenge it again. So let's not forget Scotland and let's not forget the LGBTQIA+ Action Plan in Wales.
We're fighting on all fronts but we can do it together because reason is on our side.
Bev Jackson:
Well it certainly is and when we see, I think when people have heard that the Scottish Government decided to drop the word "mother" from its Maternity Bill, in response to, um, to certain demands then I think they'll realise what's at stake.
And so people are, I think, much more alive to the issues now than they were a year ago.