Conversion therapy bill ‘deeply concerning’ says EA

The Evangelical Alliance says the Government’s draft bill on banning so-called “conversion practices” in England and Wales is “deeply concerning”.

The proposed law states that a person found guilty of “abusive conversion practices” could face unlimited fines and/or up to five years in prison.

Peter Lynas, Director of EAUK, described the draft legislation as “badly drafted” with an “entirely subjective” definition of abusive practices.

“They are so wide any parent could be caught for not agreeing with their child who says, for example, that they are trans,” he said. “They fundamentally undermine the role of parents and carers. And they also ignore freedom of religion and belief, offering no protection for church leaders or any Christian. Same-sex attracted people would find it very difficult to access support that they choose because of the risk to those helping them,” he added.

Lynas said that the Alliance would work to challenge the proposed law and asked for prayer as people try to misrepresent “what we’re saying and doing.”

“I want to be clear that we at Evangelical Alliance support banning coercive and abusive practices. And we believe the current law does that,” he said.