Foundation’s response: Banning ‘gay cure’ therapies under the ‘LGBT action plan’

In July 2017, the Government launched a national survey of LGBT people. The survey was open to anyone who identified as having ‘a minority sexual orientation, gender identity or had variations in sex characteristics’.  It asked questions about people’s experiences of living in the UK and in accessing public services. We asked questions about education, healthcare, personal safety and employment.

The survey received more than 108,000 responses, making it the largest national survey of its kind anywhere in the world.

On Tuesday 3rd April 2018 the UK Government announced the LGBT Action Plan. One of outcomes of this plan was a statement of desire to bring “forward proposals to end the practice of conversion therapy in the UK”.

For us, this a particularly important form of abuse to outlaw, and follows our joint campaign to “Make offering Gay Conversion Therapy a criminal offence in the UK“. For the campaign we joined forces with Molly Mantle, who started the government petition, and continues to campaign on this issue.

“The 30-page LGBT Action Plan contains a series of pledges, including to improve the police response to LGBT hate incidents, more support for LGBT students and teachers and improvements to gender identity services for transgender adults.”
– The Guardian

In a live TV interview, BBC News 24 asked Naz and Matt Foundation to respond to the government’s plans, and why it is so important to criminalise this practice.