UK government claims ban on gay cure therapy could have ‘unintended consequences’

Performing gay cure therapy on minors is already is illegal in nine US states and counting, as well as Switzerland, Malta, Taiwan, two Canadian provinces, and the Australian state of Victoria.Further bills are in progress in Washington state and Hawaii, while the UK government has said it is considering a ban.

The government has issued its third contradictory response on gay cure therapy in just five months – after being slammed in Parliament for its “inadequate” responses to calls for a ban. It is currently legal for unregulated persons and faith groups to attempt to ‘cure’ people of homosexuality in the UK, though the practice is banned on the NHS under a voluntary ‘Memorandum of Understanding’. 

The government has been repeatedly pressed over its failure to listen to campaigners on the issue – and the Department for Health and Social Care has now issued three contradictory responses in just a few months. 

In the first response in November last year, Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price claimed the government had “already taken the necessary steps to prevent the practice of gay conversion therapy in the UK,” and that it “does not believe creating a criminal offence is the right way forward”. 

The response was deemed inadequate by Parliament’s Petitions Committee, and Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price was told to try again. Read more via Pink News