Download 8 Jul 2013, House of Commons makes First Moves against

Press Release – Monday 8th July 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
By Tom Stephens, Hull and East Riding Labour LGBT+ Network
Email: [email protected].
House of Commons Makes first moves against Gay-to-Straight Conversion
Therapy:
After a dearth of Parliamentary discussion of the practice, gay-to-straight conversion therapy now
looks set to be on the agenda in British politics for the first time.
Monday 15 July will see Diana Johnson MP formally submit a paper petition against conversion
therapy to the House of Commons, which has gathered 2002 signatures. Individuals, trade unions
and community groups from every region of the UK have sent in completed petition sheets.
In addition, over forty backbench MPs have now signed an unprecedented Early Day Motion (EDM)
calling on the government take steps to ban conversion therapy for under-18s and investigate NHS
links with conversion therapists. It was tabled by Sandra Osborne MP, Chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Equalities, on 11th June. Other signatories include Caroline Lucas (Grn),
Stephen Gilbert (LD) and Crispin Blunt (Con).
The EDM will remain open for backbench MPs to sign for the rest of the Parliamentary year. The Hull
and East Riding Labour LGBT+ Network, has circulated the petition and been working with MPs to
get the issue better-noticed in Parliament. It is encouraging concerned constituents to lobby their
MPs to sign the EDM and has produced a draft letter for this purpose on their website.
This follows on from an article in Pink News on 25th May, co-written by Diana Johnson MP, in which
she raised concern about the lack of Parliamentary and Government interest in the problem of gayto-straight conversion therapy in Britain, lent her support to the EDM and petition and called for a
debate on the issue in Parliament.
The petition, the EDM and Diana Johnson’s Pink News article all raise concerns that nothing
currently prevents conversion therapists from freely operating in the UK, often in the psychotherapy
sector where conversion therapists can practice without being part of a professional body. In a
statement on the petition, Diana Johnson MP said,
“Completed petition sheets have been sent in to my office from some forty organisations from
communities in every region in the country: Blackpool to Brighton, Bristol to Scotland, Wales to
London and many places in-between. A range of national organisations, including MESMAC,
UNISON and USDAW, have all lent their support to the Hull and East Riding Labour LGBT+
Network’s campaign.
“I believe the wide support this paper petition, and the recent EDM against conversion therapy
tabled by Sandra Osborne MP, have received, show that gay conversion isn’t just something that
happens in the US. The government need to start taking the issue seriously.”
In a statement, Sandra Osborne MP said she was “deeply concerned that nothing currently prevents
conversion therapists from freely operating in Britain or practising in the psychotherapy sector,” and
called on the government to investigate NHS links with conversion therapists and take steps to ban
conversion therapy for under-18s. She added:
“I therefore encourage MPs from all parties to add their names to this EDM and ignite a longoverdue debate of the issue in Parliament, and I encourage concerned constituents to raise the
issue with their Members of Parliament and ask them to sign the Early Day Motion."
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