Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Trusts have received almost zero complaints about ‘conversion practices’ despite plans for a new law, The Christian Institute has revealed.
When asked if they knew of complaints “against a medical practitioner, practice, trust or other body, on the grounds of ‘conversion therapy’ or ‘conversion practice’”, only Belfast Trust said it had received any. But there were fewer than five and the Trust confirmed that no concerns were found relating to “clinical treatment and care”.
Under Alliance MLA Eóin Tennyson’s Member’s Bill, parents and church leaders could face unlimited fines and up to seven years in prison for being involved in so-called conversion practices — including stopping their children from ‘changing gender’.
‘Innocent people’
James Kennedy, NI Policy Officer for the Institute, stated that the freedom of information (FOI) responses confirm “what we have long said: there is simply no need for a law on so-called conversion therapy”.
He continued: “Many have justified a new law as a necessary intervention on pseudo-medical interventions, but these stopped generations ago. These new FOIs from the Health Trusts show there is no sign that harmful practices are taking place in Northern Ireland today.”
But he warned that if a new law “is not intended to tackle medical practices, then the public would be right to be very wary of what it really does intend to curtail.
“The truth is that a new law on conversion therapy would infringe on the freedoms of ordinary, innocent people who reject LGBTQ+ ideology. It would impact especially Christians who seek to uphold biblical teaching on marriage and gender, and parents who caution a child against gender transition.”
Stonewall
Mr Kennedy also noted that the data undermines “claims from groups like Stonewall”, which recently reported that 31 per cent of those who identify as LGBTQ+ in Great Britain have been subjected to conversion therapy or conversion practices.
He warned that such claims damage “good community relations because, on the one hand, they tell gay and trans people they are victims when they are not, and, on the other hand, they accuse churches and other innocent groups of crimes they did not commit”.
Last year, the Institute slammed a taxpayer-funded study pushing the Province to impose a new ‘conversion practices’ law based on the allegations of just ten people.
‘A Study of Conversion Practices in Northern Ireland’, commissioned by LGBT lobby groups with funding from the Department for Communities, featured various examples of mainstream Christian beliefs and practice described as conversion practices including participation in “prayer, Bible studies and teaching”.
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