End the Harm: It is time to Ban Conversion Therapy

Throughout June 2025, in celebration of Pride month, Gayther is running its Straight Talk campaign. Weekly media releases designed to highlight key aspects taking place around the world today. This release focuses on Conversion Therapy.

The simple definition of any therapy is a treatment aimed at resolving mental or physical health issues, in this context, meaning to treat someone with some form of mental distress or illness. Today, with this definition of what therapy is, many countries, including the UK, still permit the practice of Conversion Therapy to take place. Despite consecutive UK governments making commitments during election campaigns to ban the practice, as well as plans being mentioned in both the late Queen's and current King's speeches, the practice continues.

The main question that should be answered is why governments are choosing to ignore the professional advice of their own psychiatric and medical professional bodies, such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Medical Council in the United Kingdom. Advice, which, if followed, would see this pseudo practice immediately banned.

"Regardless of the intention or application of the pseudo therapy, the practice is harmful, ill-informed, and its effects are long-lasting and damaging," says Peter Williams, co-founder of Gayther.

At the core is an argument that conversion therapy treats a condition or illness. We have to look back as to why it was believed identifying at LGBT could be treated. With a lack of research and understanding regarding sexuality and gender identities, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) classified it as a disorder in 1952, a classification system used by many countries around the world. However, it was declassified twenty-one years later in 1973 after research could not support the classification, due in part to advancements in medical research and understanding that being LGBT alone is not a mental illness or disorder.

"Any country that believes it is inclusive, a democracy that represents all and believes it is progressive, but still does not outright ban conversion therapy, is only lying to themselves."

With countries around the world having differing levels of protection and laws, it still means potentially 49.8 million people under the age of 19, or 32.4% of the world's LGBTQIA+ population, could be subjected to the practice. Those undergoing the therapy may be made to do so, whether through fear or by force, regardless of whether they identify as LGBTQIA+ or not.

"Though many of the parents and legal guardians might believe what they are doing is in the best interest of their child, what they are actually doing is working on outdated views, beliefs, and guidance that do not reflect medical research and modern society."

Governments argue that minors are somewhat protected under existing child endangerment laws. Laws which act as a generic catch-all and are typically difficult to enforce, especially when not all cases are brought to the authorities. In reality, the practitioners of the pseudo-therapy and the minor's legal guardians have signed up for the therapy to take place, leaving the children vulnerable, and cases continue to go unreported.

People have the freedom to share their views and beliefs, but conversion therapy is not that; it is a practice which often carried out by untrained and ill-qualified practitioners who mentally and, in some extreme cases, physically assault a person into hiding or suppress who they really are, rather than an actual cure, as they claim. Those who follow and adhere to medical and psychiatric professional body governance not only would face the professional consequences for taking part in the therapies, but they will also know that identifying as LGBTQIA+ is not a choice but it is who a person is and how they were designed and are meant to be.

Although the argument that people over the age of 18 have the choice not to participate may be true in some cases, often the majority of those affected do so out of fear, fearing isolation, being cut off from their friends and family, and being excommunicated and shunned. For minors, the situation is much more complicated, and the argument that child protection laws would protect those most vulnerable is not true and is not based in reality.

In 2025, the practice should be banned worldwide and condemned by all political and medical bodies. There should be clear statements that these types of therapies will not be allowed or tolerated within the law or in wider society.

"It is not about agreeing with or even being happy with how a person loves or how they choose to identify, but more about the law and the basic human rights and freedoms. Laws and practices that should not allow the LGBTQIA+ community to be targeted and forced to undergo therapies that are designed to tell us we should not exist, and if it were any other group or minority, this practice would have likely been banned years ago."

Only if it is safe to do so and you are not putting your life or freedom at risk, during Pride Month, create petitions, contact your representatives within your country, and make it clear conversion therapy should be banned globally.

SOURCE
• 2025 Gayther Population Index (https://gayther.lgbt/community/lgbtq-population/).
• Under 19 estimates based on the World Population Prospects 2025 population estimates and projections that the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Standard/Population/)

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Gayther LGBT is one of the largest online resources of LGBTQIA+ information. Tools and guides designed to be fun and easy to use, all within a platform offering positive content intended to inform, showcase and connect the global community and its allies. Home to a wide range of free services, including hundreds of detailed LGBTQIA+ travel guides, fun and games, articles and a dedicated social network known as Gayther Affinity.

This release was published on openPR.