UK Government to Ban 'Abhorrent' Gay Conversion Therapy
The U.K. government will be banning the so-called gay conversion therapy, a practice that it called "abhorrent," as it announced on Tuesday, July 3. Aside from forbidding interventions meant to change a person's sexual orientation, the British government has also put into motion an "LGBT Action Plan."
This plan has been allocated around $5.9 million and will focus on the welfare of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, according to NBC News. The plan came in the wake of the results of a survey of more than 100,000 LGBTQ people in the U.K. which revealed that two percent have claimed to have "undergone conversion therapy in an attempt to 'cure' them of being LGBT."
"No one should ever have to hide who they are or who they love," British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement on the same day, adding that the LGBT Action Plan was made with an aim of establishing "real and lasting change" when it comes to the issues facing LGBT people, ranging from health and education to problems with discrimination and social injustice.
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"It's unacceptable that people feel they cannot hold hands with their partner in public, and that they are unable to walk down the street without fear of abuse," Minister for Women and Equalities Penny Mordaunt said, as quoted by CNN.
Mordaunt went on to mention the "deeply worrying" issues that LGBT people experience when it comes to accessing health care and other public services, as well as her claim that "many are being offered the abhorrent practice of conversion therapy."
The new action plan was unveiled in time for Pride Week in London, and will be considering legislative and other options in order to put a stop to the "promoting, offering or conducting" of gay conversion therapy.
