As part of their proposed “conversion therapy” ban, the Scottish government is considering defining the new crime as “any treatment, practice or effort that aims to change, suppress and/or eliminate a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression.” This would be a criminal offense in Scotland regardless of whether a patient consented to it or whether it took place abroad.
The advice also states that if the “perpetrator has parental or guardianship rights in relation to the victim, the legal consequences ought to include the modification or withdrawal of such rights,” noting that “the majority of conversion practices happen within domestic settings.”
As noted in National Review in reference to Biden’s own “conversion therapy” phantom, LGBT activists are deliberately confusing three unrelated things: First, best clinical practice for treating gender dysphoric youth. Second, voluntary talk-therapies for people with unwanted sexual desires. Third, expressing orthodox religious beliefs about the purpose of sex and sexuality, especially as it pertains to Christian parenting or religious counselors. All these are being cynically conflated with the medical malpractice and abuse homosexuals were subjected to in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The effect of such a law would be devastating. Parents would lose custody rights, and therapists their licenses to practice, simply for refusing to go along with gender transitions. Moreover, religious freedom would be severely compromised.