The Christian Post 14 March 2021
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described therapy for unwanted same-sex attraction as “repulsive” and vowed to end so-called conversion therapy days after Parliament members likened prayer and fasting to such past practices as electroshock therapy and “corrective rape.”
Johnson apologized last Friday amid complaints from activists that his government has delayed taking action on the issue of gay conversion therapy after he declared in July 2020 that the practice was “absolutely abhorrent” and vowed to ban such therapies.
According to The Telegraph, three of his advisers who identify as LGBT “quit over a lack of progress.”
Proponents of such a ban say the practice is cruel, ineffective and contributes to suicide among LGBT-identifying people.
During a trip to Belfast last week, the prime minister described the practice of trying to change someone’s sexuality as “repulsive,” according to Sky News. Johnson reportedly noted that the issue was “technically complex” but assured that he was committed to outlawing conversion therapy.
“I think this practice is repulsive and I think it’s abhorrent and I’m sorry these advisers have gone but be in no doubt that we will deal with this issue,” he told reporters. “It is technically complex to deal with but we’re determined to take further steps to stamp it out.”
At a Westminster Hall debate titled “LGBT Conversion Therapy” last Monday, members of the Petitions Committee discussed a petition demanding that the government criminalize the practice of so-called conversion therapy and criminalize the act of sending people abroad to attend conversion therapy.
Conversion therapy is defined as any effort to change one’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
During the debate, pastoral support was also branded as a form of conversion therapy and described as “torture.”
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