Trans conversion therapy U-turn shows how low Boris Johnson will go

It began with a “leak” which revealed that the Tories were planning to renege on their manifesto pledge to end conversion therapy. The move was widely and immediately condemned, which led to a partial retraction. Downing Street confirmed that in fact the ban would still be going ahead, but it would no longer apply to the use of conversion therapy against trans people.

It was a disgraceful decision, especially when considering that trans people are even more likely to experience pressure and abuse from their own family than other LGBTQ+ people. Research from Stonewall shows that one in five trans people (20%) have been pressured to access services to suppress their gender identity when accessing healthcare services.

READ MORE: UK Government LGBT adviser quits after trans conversion therapy U-turn

Conversion therapy is wrong. It is always wrong. It is a degrading and dehumanising practice, and a form of abuse that nobody should ever have to endure. It is a traumatic process that tells people they are not good enough. It tells them to shut up, deny themselves and go back in the closet. It tells them that they should be ashamed of who they are and how they identify.

There can be no justification for conversion therapy. Nobody should be told that their gender identity is something that needs to be changed or “cured”. The reaction from the LGBTQ+ community was one of unity and anger. More than 100 charities and advocacy groups withdrew their support from the UK Government’s “Safe To Be Me: Global Equality Conference”, an international event which was set to take place in London this month. The conference, which was meant to promote LGBTQ+ rights, has now been cancelled altogether. The blame for the cancellation lies entirely with Boris Johnson.

The U-turn also led to the resignation of the UK Government’s LGBT business adviser, Iain Anderson, who, in a scathing letter to the Prime Minister, rightly described conversion therapy as “abhorrent” and called the trans exclusion from the ban “deeply damaging” to his role.

READ MORE: Scottish Tories oppose Boris Johnson's stance on conversion therapy

In resigning, Anderson added “politics which creates dividing lines between LGB and trans people will never be my approach”. It’s clear what lay at the heart of this shameful decision: a toxic mixture of cynicism and prejudice. It was a crude and cruel political calculation, with UK government sources telling ITV’s political reporter Paul Brand that they were attempting to “make Labour own trans rights” so that they could weaponise it. The fact that they would knowingly and willingly use the rights and wellbeing of a marginalised community as a party-political tool is sickening and shocking, but not surprising.

The reality is that the Tory party’s commitment to human rights and equality has always been selective and rhetorical. Throwing vulnerable communities and minorities under the bus is an age-old tactic and one that it has repeatedly resorted to.

Thankfully, not all Tory MPs have responded with such callous indifference. Jamie Wallis (above), who is the first openly trans MP, said they were “bitterly disappointed” and called it a “broken promise". Barely a week has passed since the Prime Minister opened PMQs by commending Jamie Wallis’s bravery and openness. In his remarks, he pledged his support for Wallis, as well as that of his colleagues. Those words feel very hollow now.

Even the Scottish Tories have had to distance themselves from the Prime Minister, with their party’s gender reform spokesperson, Meghan Gallacher MSP, stressing that they will support legislation to end all conversion therapy including against trans people. Their commitment will soon be put to the test.

With Greens in government in Scotland, we will be delivering a full and far-reaching ban on conversion therapy. My Green colleagues and I are working with the End Conversation Therapy campaign and MSPs from across all parties, with a ban to be introduced by the end of 2023. LGBTQ+ rights are human rights. They are not a bargaining chip. They cannot become yet another frontier in the reactionary “culture war” that is being whipped up by Downing Street. Behind every slander and every shred of misinformation there are real people whose lives are being impacted by the politicking and disregard of politicians who know exactly what they’re doing. It’s shocking to think that we’re in the 21st century and, despite some really important progress, it often feels like things are going backwards. Increasingly, when it comes to public debates about conversion therapy and the Gender Recognition Act, we are seeing a lot of the same tropes and scaremongering that characterised the moral panics surrounding Section 28 and the campaigns against equal marriage.

I have no doubt that future generations will look at the whole ugly saga and the current attacks on the trans community in a very different way from the Prime Minister and his colleagues.

They will see the pain and misery that has been inflicted, and the falsehoods and disinformation that led us there. Far from agreeing with Boris Johnson, they will recognise exactly what he’s doing and wonder why it took so long to end so-called conversion therapy in the first place.

Equality must be a non-negotiable pillar of the fairer, greener independent Scotland that we are building. The Scotland I want to see is one where everyone can love who they want to love and live freely and happily as themselves. I don’t want a Scotland where human rights are regarded as optional and governments can scapegoat and marginalise minority communities to cover up their own terrible failings.

It is heartbreaking to think of the lives being damaged by conversion therapy and transphobia. My colleagues and I will always stand in solidarity with everyone who has suffered from this brutal practice, and everyone facing discrimination. You are not broken, you are not sick, you are not wrong. You do not need fixed or cured or converted because who you are is perfect.