England’s Proposed Conversion Practices Ban Advances Extreme Leftist Agenda

‘LGBT+ people will be protected from physical and psychological abuse to change who they are,” the British government proclaimed in its description of a recently introduced bill that would ban so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales. The legislation represents yet another attempt to expand England’s illiberal speech-policing regime — all while reflecting the leftist predisposition to subvert the meaning of words for political aims.

The new “Conversion Practices Bill” is devilishly vague, but here’s what stands to happen if it is passed in its current form. The law would establish new criminal offenses that carry an unlimited fine and a five-year maximum prison sentence for “conversion practices,” a term broadly defined as “abusive” conduct that aims to change an individual’s sexual orientation or “transgender identity.” (This standard would supposedly be applied bidirectionally, meaning that it would be an offense to try to convert a homosexual person into a heterosexual person, and vice versa.) When assessing conduct, consideration would be given to whether it involved “(a) words or behaviour of a sexual nature; (b) violent or threatening words or behaviour; (c) controlling or coercive words or behaviour; (d) use of economic pressure; (e) use of psychological or emotional pressure.” But that would theoretically cover most conduct, since surely all discussions about an individual’s sexuality or “gender” necessarily involve “words . . . of a sexual nature,” while “psychological or emotional pressure” could be just about anything.

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Abigail Anthony

Abigail Anthony is a staff writer at National Review.

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‘LGBT+ people will be protected from physical and psychological abuse to change who they are,” the British government proclaimed in its description of a recently introduced bill that would ban so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales. The legislation represents yet another attempt to expand England’s illiberal speech-policing regime — all while reflecting the leftist predisposition to subvert the meaning of words for political aims.

The new “Conversion Practices Bill” is devilishly vague, but here’s what stands to happen if it is passed in its current form. The law would establish new criminal offenses that carry an unlimited fine and a five-year maximum prison sentence for “conversion practices,” a term broadly defined as “abusive” conduct that aims to change an individual’s sexual orientation or “transgender identity.” (This standard would supposedly be applied bidirectionally, meaning that it would be an offense to try to convert a homosexual person into a heterosexual person, and vice versa.) When assessing conduct, consideration would be given to whether it involved “(a) words or behaviour of a sexual nature; (b) violent or threatening words or behaviour; (c) controlling or coercive words or behaviour; (d) use of economic pressure; (e) use of psychological or emotional pressure.” But that would theoretically cover most conduct, since surely all discussions about an individual’s sexuality or “gender” necessarily involve “words . . . of a sexual nature,” while “psychological or emotional pressure” could be just about anything.