New law proposed to ban conversion therapy in the UK will not protect transgender people. What does this mean for transgender children and their parents?

April La Family Associate Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP

Conversion therapy aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and unfortunately it is not an uncommon practice in modern society. In 2022 the UK government proposed a ban on conversion therapy but deliberately excluded transgender conversion therapy from the proposals. This decision has caused public upset prompting a well-attended parliamentary debate over the summer and the creation of a government petition which supports an inclusionary ban. Whilst developments in the law surrounding transgender people affect the transgender community as a whole this article explores the potential impact on transgender children and their parents in particular. Under current UK law transgender children can be subjected to more subtle forms of conversion therapy. We will consider several scenarios where this can occur and what criminal and civil law remedies are available. It is apparent that such remedies do not adequately protect children from the risk of conversion therapy and an inclusionary ban would greatly increase the protection to those children.

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