The Transgender Exclusion from the Conversion Therapy Ban Will Have Fatal Consequences
On the evening of Transgender Day of Vibisility, the UK government decided to introduce a conversion therapy ban in England and Wales, but only focused on sexuality rather than gender identity. This means that on Transgender Day of Visibility, our PM took the logical, but equally horrific, next logical steps in what has been a systemic and quick erasure of transgender rights in the country.
On April 6th, Boris Johnson defended the decision, focusing on the importance of leaving it to parents to make decisions about their child’s gender identity. Which, of course, can include “being induced to ingest “purifying” substances, threatening a person with homelessness, corrective rape, being prayed over as a form of “healing”; and exorcisms” in order to prevent children to suffer irreversible damage like using different pronouns and wearing pink clothes.
Over 80 LGBTQ+ and HIV charities decided to withdraw from and boycott Safe To Be Me, the UK government’s first global LGBTQ+ conference, unless trans people are explicitly included in the ban.
The Government’s 2018 National LGBT Survey found transgender people are twice as likely to undergo conversion therapy (13%) than cisgender people (7%). As highlighted from Stonewall, there are no studies that prove conversion therapy effective, but several testimonies proving how damaging it is.
I grew up openly trans in a country that didn't have any legal protection against homophobia and transphobia. Unfortunately, I'm very familiar with feeling like a country isn't a safe space and has no interest in protecting my community. While as a gay man I am relieved the government took a stance against conversion therapy, as a trans man I can't help but feel hurt and betrayed. Our identities don't exist in a vacuum. There's lots of overlap and intersectionality in the LGBTQ+ community, and only protecting some identities further demonises the others.
Trans people in the UK, especially young people, are struggling to feel safe and protected. This news feeds those fears, at a time when we really need reassurance. Combined with the institutional and systemic obstacles, especially when accessing healthcare and public services, it's hard not to read this news as a will to try and "fix" or "cure" us, rather than help us. Especially this close to Trans Day of Visibility, erasure feels more violent than ever, and fails to acknowledge the many people who had to pay – often with their life – the price of institutional abuse.
It’s also not lost on me that the government is using the complexity of transgender identities as one of the reasons for the U turn. The intricacy of our identities is often weaponised against us. Most legislations fail to recognise the layers of intersectionality and oppression we face, and this is reflected by most policies (in schools, in healthcare and in workplaces). The blanket menace of transphobia is presented instead of the various ways it displays, the way it interacts with racism, exorsexism, cissexism, cisnormativity, transmisogyny. We get so stuck on definitions and attempting to understand identities that we never get to the point of making policies and laws that include us. We never understand our identities enough to respect them in rulings.
The failure to take a stance against trans conversion therapy isn’t a surprise as much as it proves, once again, a trend. Between the debates around puberty blockers, the wait for first appointments at the Gender Identity Clinic now being over 6 years, the failure to reform the Gender Recognition Act, it’s clear the UK has no interest in stopping the systemic erasure of transgender people and is in fact encouraging it. The impact on the life and mental health of trans people has been explored by numerous studies, and all point at an increase in suicidal ideation, withdrawal from healthcare and an increase in hate crimes.
Until we act to shift the focus from debate to inclusion, from defending our existence to equity, existing as a trans person in the UK will never be safe. Until we don’t see being trans as wrong or undesirable, we will keep being seen as an evil to be eradicated, with fatal consequences, rather than a necessary and valuable part of society.
Written by Ramses Oliva
Ramses (ramses.uk) is a transgender consultant, activist, and writer. His goal is improving trans visibility in all fields, by providing education and representation. He has recently launched his project #ShiftTheFocus that landed him a nomination to the National Diversity Awards 2022.
