The Christian Institute (CI) has called on the British government to desert its attempts to pass a law against so-called ‘conversion therapy’, stating that any such law would either be unworkable and will find yourself criminalising medical professionals.
In a report submitted to the federal government, the CI said that existing laws are sufficient to cope with real cases of abuse or coercion, and that demands for a recent specific law are motivated by activism relatively than a real concern for victims.
The CI noted that the sort of law that LGBT activists have demanded would involve criminalising parents, doctors and spiritual leaders simply for having conversations or praying with or for an individual.
According to the report, “They [LGBT activists] don’t want a standard criminal law to stop objectively abusive behaviour. Instead, they need a broad ‘speech crime’ law to catch the on a regular basis activities of church leaders and fogeys who don’t affirm LGBTQ ideology.”
By agreeing to those demands while also expressing a desire to uphold the appropriate to spiritual freedom and for families to have open discussions, the federal government has created an inconceivable task for itself, the CI suggests.
In its report the CI gave examples of other jurisdictions which have attempted to introduce bans on conversion therapy. Sweden, the Netherlands, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland were all checked out.
The common theme is that what constitutes ‘conversion therapy’ may be very difficult to accurately define legally and risks criminalising innocent behaviour like praying or having a conversation. Legal reviews often reveal that objectionable practices that activists say they want to ban are the truth is already illegal.
The report concludes, “The UK Government now faces a selection: proceed with a project that even many ‘progressive’ governments are starting to see is a dead end, or consider seriously how individuals reporting real abuse will be higher protected under existing law.”
