UK healthcare organisations take stand against conversion therapy

A number of leading UK healthcare organisations have voiced their united opposition to the practice of subjecting LGBTQ individuals to so-called 'conversion therapy'.

Groups including the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, the British Psychoanalytic Council, the British Psychological Society, the National Counselling Society, the Royal College of GPs, Stonewall and the UK Council for Psychotherapy are all among the signatories of the statement, which condemns the ethics of the practice.

It described conversion therapy as a concept that has "no place in the modern world", noting its harmful nature and lack of any supporting evidence, as well as noting the inherent assumption that certain sexual orientations or gender identities are inferior and can be changed or suppressed.

These organisations published a memorandum of understanding against the practice in 2015, with the new statement coinciding with news that Malta and Taiwan are moving to outlaw conversion therapy, as well as mounting concerns that Donald Trump's new US government may support the practice.

Janet Weisz, chair of the memorandum of understanding group and chief executive of the UK Council for Psychotherapy, said: "We have always been clear that sexual orientation and gender identities are not mental health disorders. Any therapy that claims to change these is not only unethical, but it's also potentially harmful."

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