If the polls are to be believed, Sir Keir Starmer will soon be the prime minister backed by a sizeable Labour majority. This would seek to outlaw any kind of help being given to someone who wants to live as the person God made them — male or female, with sex reserved for marriage.
Prayer with a pastor, Christian counselling; even books that aim to help people live chaste lives could be criminalised. Labour will finally deliver a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, while protecting the freedom for people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity.
But the longer they looked at the subject, the more they realised that a ban was both impractical and unnecessary. The evidence shows that talking therapy for same-sex attraction is generally beneficial to mental health and often effective. There are no degrading or abusive forms of therapy being offered in the United Kingdom and if they were, they would already be banned. The clear target of a proposed ban is Christians.
The conversion practices ban pushed by Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle would have banned Christian books if they gave advice on how to stay sexually pure.
The Conservative Party has been far from perfect on this issue, with successive leaders promising a ban and Alicia Kearns working closely with Russell-Moyle on his bill. But it seems likely that the Labour Party will push through an unnecessary and poorly drafted bill that would breach human rights. If passed, it will lead to Christians self-censoring and lengthy court battles defending legitimate Christian ministries and challenging the legality of the law. This definition effectively prohibits the criticism of Islamic beliefs and practices.
