London (Parliament Politics Magzine) – Gender-critical advocates have cautioned Sir Keir Starmer that Labour schemes to bar trans conversion therapy risk criminalising parents who objected to their child’s transition.
Around 140 people including peers, MPs, doctors and psychotherapists have signed an open letter to the Prime Minister with grave worries about the government’s plan to revive a prohibition first offered by the Tories. They include Labour MP Graham Stringer and Dr David Bell, the ex-governor of the Tavistock Centre, which was shut down earlier this year after ministering more than 1,000 children.
What concerns do gender-critical advocates have about the bill?
Labour employed the July King’s Speech to offer a Conversion Practices Bill, which would preclude action to change, cure or repress someone’s sexuality or gender ID. The letter says professionals have pledged to stop operating with children with gender dysphoria altogether, for fear of being criminalised, adding that a tricky slope towards criminalising parents awaits us.
A prohibition on conversion therapy, which seeks to suppress or change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, was first sworn in 2018, by former Conservative prime minister Theresa May. It was later demoted under Boris Johnson’s leadership not to include transgender people, but the Conservative administration under Rishi Sunak expressed in January 2023 that it would prohibit conversion therapy for everyone, including transgender people.
How are whistleblowers being validated by recent findings?
The letter, arranged by activist James Esses, remarked:
“Whistleblowers in this domain have been vindicated by recent circumstances, such as the final report of the independent Cass Review, the NHS decision to stop the prescription of puberty blockers, the closure of the GIDS gender clinic at the Tavistock, and the revelations contained within the WPATH files, amongst other things.
What outcomes have children faced from medical transitions?
“Many complicated and vulnerable children who medically transitioned via puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have mourned irreversible developmental issues, physiological damage (such as loss of bone density, infertility and sexual dysfunction) and meaningful social and relational harms. Those most at stake are children who do not conform to traditional sex stereotypes.”