The Evangelical Alliance, the oldest and largest evangelical unity coalition in the UK, has written a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging him not to ban conversion therapy.
Conversion therapy, sometimes known as “reparative therapy,” is a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, the Human Rights Commission says.
The Evangelical Alliance, established in 1846, comprises more than 3,500 churches across the UK, tens of thousands of individuals and hundreds of organisations and charities.
In their letter to Boris Johnson, they argue that a ban on conversion therapy would risk criminalising everyday church activities. “Proposals to end conversion therapy not only put at risk the individual freedom of people who are attracted to those of the same sex, but they also place religious freedom in jeopardy. This is not a concern restricted to specific practices, organisations or ministries that provide services to people experiencing same-sex attraction — although it will affect them. This will threaten the everyday practices of churches, church leaders, and Christians across the UK,” the letter reads. “It would place ministry leaders at risk of arrest for encouraging young people to maintain chastity until marriage. And it would criminalise a member of a church who prays with another member when they ask for prayer to resist temptation as they are attracted to someone of the same sex but do not wish to act on it.”
Gay Evangelical Christian and Writer, Jayne Ozanne, tweeted in response to the letter. “Here’s clear proof that those who wish to continue the practice of conversion therapy wish to do so with impunity, deaf to the cries of the multitude of people they have harmed. The government has a clear choice – to side with the perpetrators or to protect vulnerable victims”
“Freedom of religious belief is only a freedom up until the point that it does no harm,” she added.
According to a study published on The Gerontologist which analysed data from 1,156 queer men collected between 2016 – 2019, conversion therapies contribute to negative psychosocial health consequences for the queer men involved. The queer men analysed for the study were at least age 40 and with a mean age of 62.6 years.
