Strict thresholds?

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Ophelia Benson

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No “Carve-Out” For Parents In LGBT Conversion Practices Ban, Says Minister

Parents who are found guilty of “abusively” trying to change their child’s sexuality or gender identity could be jailed under new legislation, a minister has confirmed.

Olivia Bailey, the minister for equalities, said parents would not be given any “carve-out” from the government’s planned ban on “abusive conversion practices” that cause “serious harm” to the victim. Those found guilty of breaching the proposed law could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Amid concern from religious and gender-critical campaigners that the draft Conversion Practices Bill could undermine parental autonomy, Bailey insisted the legislation will not prevent parents from choosing how to raise their children, as the courts will only convict people guilty of practices which meet strict thresholds for abuse.

Ok, so…why make it about “conversion practices” at all? Why not just make it about abuse? I think it’s possible there’s already a law against abuse, so why not just rely on that? There’s no need to pass separate laws for every possible cause of abuse is there? Abuse is abuse; it shouldn’t matter what the reason for it is.

The minister told The House magazine: “This is about abuse; it is about a very specific form of abuse. It is not about policing opinions, it is not about policing how parents parent, and it is for the courts to determine, not politicians, but – rightly – for the courts to determine what meets that threshold of abuse.”

But why is it about a very specific form of abuse? Why isn’t it sufficient to have a law against abuse?

The bill defines a conversion practice as “any conduct” carried out with the intention of causing another person to have or not to have, or to believe they have or do not have, a particular sexuality or transgender identity.

Any conduct, eh? So talking to the male teenager about why he thinks he’s a girl equals abuse? Do you pause to think you might be widening the definition of abuse a little too far?

Comments

4 responses to “Strict thresholds?”

  1. Artymorty Avatar
    Artymorty

    is telling a boy he can’t get a vaginoplasty before he’s old enough to drive a form of abuse? Is telling a girl she can’t have her breasts removed and body sterilized before she’s an adult a form of abuse?

    These are very specific questions which must be answered in the negative.

  2. Papito Avatar
    Papito

    Telling a boy you believe he’s a girl is a form of abuse. Telling a girl you believe she’s a boy is a form of abuse. Putting a child on cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers, or doing major surgery to remove gonads or secondary sexual characteristics, all cause serious harm.

    So everybody talking to kids from Stonewall or like agencies, and telling them they have a gender identity that required this kind of medicalization, can be arrested under this ban.

  3. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Which raises the question is it abuse now or in the future? Are parents who rush to approve their kids transing being abusive in the long run? If the fad suddenly dies there are going to be a lot of young adults in a very bad situation.

  4. Mostly Cloudy Avatar
    Mostly Cloudy

    I found a good article, linked from the Transgender Trend website, about the problems with this LCPB legislation:

    The spectacle of a dissenting parent being sent to jail, as happened in British Columbia, Canada for refusing to comply with the social and medical transition of their child, may become much more than an academic footnote in the future UK family law context (Weichel, 2021).

    Given the astounding lack of age protections, the Bill offers a disturbingly easy route of access for trans activists to intervene aggressively in family life, in order to prevent parents resisting the social or even medical transition of their child of any age, ranging from babies and toddlers up to 18 years.

    https://criticaltherapyantidote.org/2025/03/15/therapy-in-the-real-world-person-centred-therapy-and-gender-critical-beliefs/

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