There is an attempt to pass a conversion therapy Private Members bill in NI pushed by Alliance Deputy Leader Eóin Tennyson. Apparently it is similar to the abandoned SNP plan in Scotland which opposition managed to scupper. Time for NI folk to take action to do the same.
The proposed Bill would create two new offences to address gaps in existing law and ensure people are adequately protected.
- An offence of engaging in conversion practice; and
- An offence of removing a person from Northern Ireland for the purposes of conversion practice.
There is a consultation period now opening. The Alliance wants to "Make your voice heard". Somehow I am thinking there some voices which they don't want to hear. Lets change that. Lets have a proper debate. Lets talk about ALL the weird gender beliefs there are out there not just the religious ones.
Read the proposals and respond here:
https://www.allianceparty.org/banning_conversion_practices
The "Banning Conversion Practices in Northern Ireland" proposals make interesting reading. Section on consent:
Consent
The proposal does not include a defence that the victim consented to conversion practice. This is to make clear, in a similar way to legislation on female genital mutilation and domestic abuse, that consent to such practices cannot be informed.
Individuals will often consent due to external pressure or imbalanced power dynamics. Often, consent is given in the absence of full knowledge that the change in question is not, in fact, possible; or of the harm that can be
caused. There may also be instances whereby the victim is subject to an act which they do not initially realise to be conversion practice.
It mentions a comparison to FGM. This would suggest the bill would accept sex is actually real and that mutilating genitalia is wrong. Perhaps it should be drafted so Detrastioners could take action against those bigots who pushed them to change their bodies.
A proper bill should be drafted so it could be used for imprisoning people who convert people into belief their bodies need to be surgically mutilated targeting gay people or that biology isn't real and men are not physically stronger than women.
Not much press on this so far interesting contribution from Former UUP councillor Jeff Dudgeon, who had homosexuality decriminalised in NI in 1981 though here:
But Mr Dudgeon summarised his concerns: "My big fear is that we're using a sledge hammer to crack a nut, because there isn't a great deal of evidence of significant criminal activity, as Eoin would define it [by the four tests]".
Mr Dudgeon said he had been arrested and had his home raided for homosexuality in his younger days, "and I don't wish it on other people who are committing what I would call a rather relatively minor offence".
Alliance Deputy Leader Eoin Tennyson launches private members bill aiming to jail pastors or counsellors who help anyone change sexual orientation or gender identity for up to seven years
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/alliance-deputy-leader-eoin-tennyson-launches-private-members-bill-aiming-to-jail-pastors-or-counsellors-who-help-anyone-change-sexual-orientation-or-gender-identity-for-up-to-seven-years-4898184
Discussion how the last conversion therapy bill brought down a DUP leader:
In October, the former DUP leader Arlene Foster said that a row over conversion therapy within her party had been the “straw that broke the camel’s back” over her removal.
It followed a week after she abstained from the Assembly vote calling for a ban.
“I was aware that one of our members had a daughter who was gay - in an attempt to try and diffuse the situation, I said: ‘Well, we’ll just abstain,‘” she said.
“It was a non-binding vote. But by saying just abstain, people got very angry about that and that was the trigger then for my removal, which came just a week later.”
Conversion therapy could see seven year jail term under Alliance proposal
https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/conversion-therapy-could-see-seven-year-jail-term-under-alliance-proposal-HKJFYLX7C5GOXBLPNPBGOYZNW4/
Noticeably the press coverage doesn't mention the implications of this for women children, and gay rights just for believers in monotheistic patriarchal religions. I wonder why?