“Ban it for everybody. Ban it for sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Don’t have an age limitation. Don’t have a consent limitation. Those have no place,” Florence Ashley told openDemocracy as the UK government said its ban on conversion practices will not include all LGBT people.
These are the same demands put forward by UK advocates such as Ban Conversion Therapy, a coalition of LGBTQ+ organisations, faith groups and human rights groups including Amnesty International, Gendered Intelligence and Stonewall, which is calling for an outright ban.
But last week, Downing Street confirmed that its proposed law will only apply to practices relating to sexual orientation. It will also only protect under-18s, allowing adults to ‘consent’ to “non-physical” forms of conversion practices.
