Politics Home | No “Carve Out” For Parents In LGBT Conversion Practices Ban, Says Minister

Olivia Bailey, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities (Credit: House of Commons)

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Olivia Bailey, the minister for LGBT+ equalities, said parents would not be given any “carve-out” from the government’s planned ban on “abusive conversion practices” which 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.

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.”

Asked whether she expects any parents to go to prison as a result of the legislation, she said: “I think that anybody committing abuse, no matter where you find it, no matter in what walk of life – there are not carve-outs for abuse by parents in any other legal environment.

“So I think it is completely right that we just say very clearly in this legislation: we want to stop abuse, we want to stop abuse wherever it happens. Full stop. End of story.”

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.

But an offence only occurs where that conduct “amounts to an abuse of the individual”. In determining that, consideration would be given as to whether words or behaviour “of a sexual nature” or which are “violent or threatening” or “controlling or coercive” have been used, as well as whether “economic” or “psychological or emotional” pressure has been applied, “among other things”.

The victim must also have been caused “serious harm” to their “mental or physical health”, or “serious alarm or distress” which has a “substantial adverse effect on their usual day-to-day activities”.

The law will not only prohibit conversion practices aimed at making someone straight or cisgender and will, at least in principle, apply equally to practices aimed at making someone adopt an LGBTQ+ identity.

Healthcare services will be exempt from the bill’s provisions, except where a healthcare practitioner “falls far below the standards reasonably expected of a person in their position”.

The full interview with Olivia Bailey on the draft Conversion Practices Bill will feature in the next edition of The House magazine in print and online.