Conversion Practices Bill - A bill which is so bad it must not become law

Conversion Practices Bill

A bill which is so bad it must not become law.

The rule of depends on us having lawmakers who are well informed. It is absolutely essential that laws are based are based on facts, truth and science. Laws must also be consistent with each other and be enforceable.

This bill is based on a concept, namely self identification of gender which is not the law of the UK. It is also to a high degree unenforceable. This is a law which has the potential to interfere with normal parenting, schooling and social activities. It is the sort of law which is likely to give rise to the malicious prosecution of people who express “gender critical” views. This will conflict with the fact that gender critical views are a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. This bill will negatively impact far more on women.  

There is a massive backlog of cases in both magistrates an crown courts. The government wishes to cut back on jury trials. And yet the Government seems to think that judicial time can be found to enforce the nebulous concepts set out in this bill. Gender is not a fact. It is a theory and a contested theory at that. It is not a theory which should be taught to children and we know that is taking place up and down the country.  

We need laws which are enacted for the general public good. We cannot have laws which benefit just one very small section of society. Conversion practises against gay men in particular were once a concern. Such practises are no longer widespread.

As regards, “conversion practises” as defined in the bill relating to gender identity what we have is parents, teachers and others who wish to state the simple truth that biological sex is binary. There are two biological sexes and humans cannot change sex. The bill will negatively affect academic research, publishing, free speech and caring professions such as psychotherapy and social work.  The idea that parents, teachers, therapists and others could face up to 5 years in jail for discussing issues of sex and gender with young people is completely wrong headed.

Even if one accepted the premise of this bill, the penalties are completely disproportionate for people expressing lawful opinions based on scientific fact. This is a bill which enshrines falsehood into law. As such it a bad bill and must not be allowed to become law. This bill follows on from the Gender Recognition Act of 2003 which also enshrined falsehood into law.

This is a bill which will stoke more social conflict.

This bill is a civilisational moment. Western societies are the first societies in human history to teach their children falsehoods.

This bill is the perfect example of a bad bill which if enacted will come a bad law.