CONVERSION THERAPY

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. 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

identity is fundamentally unChristian, and people of faith ought to be taking a lead on an issue like this.’

John O’Doherty, Director of the Rainbow Project (he/him) “The Rainbow Project will always stand against conversion therapy in whatever guise it presents itself and wherever it is being promoted. All forms of conversion therapies are wrong, unethical and prey on some of the most vulnerable members of our community. These barbaric and torturous practices are still being inflicted on people in Northern Ireland today. LGBTQIA+ people, including those of faith, are not broken. We call on LGBTQIA+ people, our friends and allies to join the campaign.”

Fergal McFerran, Northern Ireland Programme Manager, Stonewall (he/him) ‘LGBTQIA+ people don’t need to be ‘cured’ or change who we are, and there should be no place in our society for any so-called ‘interventions’ which seek to erase us. Now is the time for MLAs and Ministers in Northern Ireland to show leadership on LGBTQIA+ equality by becoming the first Government across these Islands to bring in a meaningful and effective ban on ‘conversion therapy’.

Steve Williamson, Director of Cara-Friend “As a charity which supports LGBTQIA+ people across NI, Cara-Friend have seen first-hand the emotional, mental, and physical damage that so-called conversion ‘therapy’ has on a person. Younger LGBTQIA+ people are especially vulnerable to being pressured into this harmful, psuedo-medical practice. They do not ‘consent’, no one can consent to being abused, and we are aware of young LGBTQIA+ people who have lost their lives due to this deeply damaging ‘therapy’. Being LGBTQIA+ is natural, what is unnatural and dangerous is teaching people to reject an intrinsic part of themselves, in order to conform to the wishes of medieval religious homophobia.”

Cara McCann, Director of HereNI “Here NI supports lesbian and bisexual women from a variety of backgrounds including those who are parents and people of faith. We hope to send a message to LGBTQIA+ people of faith, and the community more broadly, that they are loved and welcomed in our society, and that sexual orientation is not something that one can be ’trained’ out of. Any acceptance of Conversion Therapy has a damaging impact not only on LGBTQIA+ people, many of whom are parents, but also on our children’s health and wellbeing as it suggests their parents need ‘cured’ in some way”

Kathryn Kerr, LGBT Lead for Northern Ireland Humanists “The evidence is clear that all types of so-called “conversion therapy” are greatly detrimental to those subjected to them. The UK Government are aware of this, the UN has reiterated this time and time again, and we cannot wait any longer to ban this practice in all settings. People are put at harm while organisations practising “conversion therapy” enjoy charity status and tax exemptions. This needs to end now, not when it is most convenient to our legislators. We ask the Northern Ireland Assembly to act now to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our society, including by making sure there are no loopholes for religious settings where most of these abhorrent practices occur.”

Alexa Moore, Director of TransgenderNI “TransgenderNI is proud to be a part of the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition NI. Trans communities are almost twice as likely than broader LGBTQI+ communities to go through or be offered conversion therapy - this isn’t just an issue affecting cis lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Our communities across NI deserve a full and comprehensive ban on this abhorrent practice.”

Micky Murray, an LGBTQIA+ activist whose recent public petition was presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly for a ban on conversion therapy. “This is not a question of whether conversion therapy works or not, which it doesn’t. This is question of right and wrong - conversion therapy is barbaric, harmful, and wrong. Conversion therapy costs lives. We need a full meaningful ban that protects victims and prevents any further harm.”