The UK government has refused to make gay cure therapy illegal.

It has responded to a petition signed by 33,000 Brits asking for the process, which has been widely debunked, to make the process illegal.

The creator of the petition, Mollie Mantle, wrote: “This therapy often includes electric shocks, counselors encouraging suicide, and damaging ideology linking LGBT+ identities to sexual abuse from family members in early years.

“It is scientifically proven that this therapy does not work.”

However the UK government has said that British medical bodies will already strike off anyone who practices ‘gay cure’ therapy, which is sufficient, they say.

The petition has not yet met the 100,000 signatories bar to be discussed in parliament.

In a response posted on the petition, the Department for Health wrote: “The Government fully recognise the importance of this issue and the adverse impact this treatment could have on lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

“There is no evidence that this sort of treatment is beneficial, and indeed it may well cause significant harm to some patients.

“It is incumbent on professionals working in the National Health Service to ensure that treatment and care, including therapy, is provided to every patient without any form of discrimination.

“This Government is committed to tackling discrimination towards LGB people.

“That is why we have already worked with the main registration and accreditation bodies for psychotherapy and counselling practitioners, including the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), to develop first a consensus statement and then a Memorandum of Understanding committing signatory organisations to a range of activities including training and awareness raising amongst their members in relation to this issue.”

Though the government has responded, the petition remains open and can be signed here.

The man who pioneered so-called gay cure therapy, Dr. Joseph Nicolodi, died last week aged 70.

Dr. Nicolodi was co-founder of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH).

He became a major figure in the ‘ex-gay’ movement.

He ran the clinic, the largest of its kind in the world, for more than three decades, writing four books on how to ‘cure’ homosexuality.

He claimed to run “the only secular group in the U.S. which protects the rights of therapists to counsel clients with unwanted homosexuality”, according to his website, which has more than 100,000 visitors every month.

US Vice President has been an advocate of the debunked therapy in the past, though he has denied that since.

The pope has also criticised attempts to stop gay cure therapy, calling it an attack on ‘religious freedoms’.

Therapy to change a person’s sexual orientation has been denounced by almost every major medical associations, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association.