Liz Truss has pledged that parents and teachers will remain free to talk to children about “whether they are transgender or not”, as she moved to quell a Conservative rebellion over plans to fast-track a ban on conversion therapy.
In a letter to MPs and peers, the Foreign Secretary and equalities minister said she wanted to address “concerns and questions” about the proposals, after a series of senior Conservatives warned Boris Johnson to extend a “rushed” consultation on the plans.
The Prime Minister is understood to have raised concerns with aides about the length of the six-week consultation, having seen the warnings by Tory MPs that the legislation risked “trampling over the vulnerabilities of children” and needed to be “thought through properly”.
On Thursday, the Government announced that the consultation would be extended for another eight weeks so that “the widest possible views are taken into account”. Such consultations are often open for 12 weeks in total.
MPs and ministers are concerned that the current proposals would outlaw conversations about the “gender identity” of children, as a result of pressure from Stonewall, the equality charity to include the issue in the plans.
The plans are seen as a little-known extension of the Government’s proposals to outlaw gay conversion therapy, which are not seen as controversial and were first promised by the Conservatives in 2018.
They are being fast-tracked in order to present a bill to the Commons in time for an LGBT conference being hosted by Britain next summer.
Fears ban will criminalise conversations between parents and children
Many Conservative parliamentarians fear that attempting to encapsulate conversion therapy aimed at changing gender identity will criminalise routine conversations between children and parents, teachers, or clinicians, and lead to more children undergoing “radical medical or surgical procedures, which they later deeply regret.”
In the letter to MPs and peers, sent last week and also signed by Mike Freer, the junior equalities minister, Ms Truss insisted that the Government remained “committed to preparing legislation to ban conversion therapy for Spring 2022 and introducing this as soon as Parliamentary time allows.”
But, addressing the concerns raised by parliamentarians, she added: “The Government’s proposals will protect freedom of speech. Parents, clinicians and teachers will of course continue to be able to have conversations with young people or others about their sexual orientation or whether they are transgender or not.
“Our current focus is on securing feedback on our policy proposals. Legislative drafting will then follow, informed by analysis of consultation responses.”
Lord Goldsmith, the environment minister, has publicly warned that it was “so important that we get this legislation right”.
Government figures insist that gender identity has been part of the proposals since 2018, because Theresa May promised steps to ban conversion therapy attempting to “cure” lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
‘Positive equality outcomes’ of policies should also be looked at
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch, the minister for levelling up, communities and equalities, has written to colleagues warning that equality assessments of new policies should examine the “positive equality outcomes from policies” and not just “any potential negatives”.
In a letter to ministers, Ms Badenoch said that complying with the Equality Act should not lead to “disproportionate burdens on the public sector or their private sector or voluntary sector contractors”, because “the cost of disproportionate burdens ultimately falls on the taxpayer.”
She added: “Government policies should seek to unite communities across class, colour and creed, rather than atomising society based on protected characteristics, while recognising and addressing the different needs of certain groups.”
