FEATURE // BAN CONVERSION THERAPY NI
BAN CONVERSION THERAPY NI COALITION URGES NORTHERN IRELAND POLICTIANS TO MAKE HISTORY AND BAN CONVERSION THERAPY OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS, Northern Ireland has taken significant steps forward on LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, intersex, and asexual) equality. From equal marriage to protections in employment, more LGBTQIA+ people can be themselves than ever before. But discrimination and abuse remain an everyday reality for many LGBTQIA+ people at home, at work and in their cultural and spiritual communities – including through the harmful practice of ‘conversion therapy’. Ban Conversion Therapy Northern Ireland is a coalition of LGBTQIA+ organisations and individuals working to deliver a meaningful and effective ban on ‘conversion therapy’ in Northern Ireland. The consortium includes The Rainbow Project, Stonewall, Northern Ireland Humanists, HERE NI, Cara -Friend, Transgender NI and Left Side Up (a progressive Christian organisation working at the intersections of faith shares with mental health, arts and community). This Coalition was been launched at the start of April, ahead of the Ulster Unionist Party motion on Conversion Therapy due to be debated in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday 20th April 2021.
FORTY SIX // GNIMAG.COM
Conversion therapy is defined as a practice which attempts to erase, repress, cure or change someone’s sexual orientation - or lack of - and/or gender identity. It can take many forms, including psychiatric, psychological, religious, and cultural interventions, and is extremely harmful to those who experience it, often causing lifelong mental health challenges. Figures from the National LGBT Survey found that 7 per cent of LGBTQIA+ people have been offered or undergone conversion therapy, with trans respondents almost twice as likely to have been offered or undergone conversion therapy (13 per cent). Figures also found asexual people to be at a higher risk of being offered or undergoing conversion therapy (10 per cent). Ban Conversion Therapy NI are lobbying the Northern Ireland Assembly to bring forward comprehensive proposals to end sexual orientation and gender identity conversion therapy practices in Northern Ireland. This must include a legislative ban that bans all conversion therapy practices across public and private spheres whether within healthcare, religious and cultural or traditional settings. It must protect everyone regardless of age or whether they were coerced or consented to the practice,
and must include a ban on the advertising and promotion of such practises. As well as highlighting the need for a legislative ban, the coalition are also campaigning for specialist support for victims and survivors of conversion therapy. The coalition are encouraging everyone who believes in LGBTQIA+ equality to get involved with their efforts, asking them to email their MLA by visiting www.banconversiontherapy.com and share social media messages to highlight the need for an effective legal ban to LGBTQIA+ conversion therapy. Northern Ireland Politicians have the chance to make history by being the first government on these islands to ban this harmful practice. Comments from Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition members Dr Andrew Cunning, Director of Left Side Up and Theology Project Lead ‘Left Side Up calls on people of faith here in NI to oppose Conversation Therapy not in spite of their faith, but because of it. Any attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender
