Research by US-based clinical psychologists Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder in 2002 found that people who undergo conversion therapy not only do not become heterosexual but the majority of them also suffer significantly worsened mental health as a result, including depression, anxiety, self-harm, post-traumatic stress, and suicide.

But there are currently no laws against it in the UK and no state regulation of counselling and psychotherapy, meaning that there is nothing to prevent therapists telling LGBT people they have a mental illness that can be "cured" and attempting to do so.

It is not yet known what the limitations of the suggested ban would be, whether it would apply to mental health professionals only, or to religious leaders, but it is the first time the government has cited using the law as an option to end such practices.

"The concept behind conversion therapy, that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is something that needs to be cured, is highly offensive and incredibly damaging to those exposed to it," Labour MP Sarah Champion, who is a member of the Women and Equalities Committee, told BuzzFeed News.

"The government LGBT Action Plan must be robust in tackling this whether the therapy is presented as medical treatment or part of a religious practice. Any action short of a ban of conversion therapy will be a disservice to the LGBT community."

There are currently laws against conversion therapy – some of which apply only to people under the age of 18 – in some states in the US, Canada, and Australia, as well as nationwide bans in Malta, Ecuador, and Switzerland. Brazil banned it in 1999, but a judge overturned it last year.



Previous attempts to eradicate gay "cures" in Britain have failed. In 2016, Mike Freer, the Conservative MP, in conjunction with Stonewall, the LGBT equality organisation, sought testimonies from victims of conversion therapy to use as evidence to the Department of Health that statutory regulation of psychotherapists and counsellors needed to be introduced to banish it.

And in the previous year, Geraint Davies MP introduced a private member's bill to parliament calling for the regulation of all therapists – but that too did not succeed. At the time, health minister Jane Ellison said that the government had no plans to introduce regulation.

