Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP: I would be a coward if I didn’t try to ban ‘conversion therapy’
Lloyd Russell-Moyle is hopeful that his bill to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’ will “unify” people on all sides of the issue.
Speaking to GAY TIMES ahead of the Conversion Practices (Prohibition) Bill’s second reading, which is due to take place on 1 March, the Labour MP explained that he opted to bring the issue forward in the form of a Private Members’ Bill to help bring lawmakers together on an issue the government has “struggled” with. “All the major parties had promised at the last election that they were going to do this,” he explained. “When I looked into it, what had happened is everyone had kept getting bogged down too much in trying to define new terms and going down the rabbit holes of engaging in the trans ‘debate’, or the LGBT ‘debate’. “And what I wanted to do is say, ‘Actually, can we step back here and find something that is almost of a common cause?’ and I know there’s a lot of bad blood, but actually because I’m part of that bad blood, am I able to actually then bring people along with me and surprise people with getting something that can work for all?” Drafted by Russell-Moyle, the bill has the support of Conservatives such as Caroline Nokes, Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, and Alicia Kearns, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, both of whom have been clear about their desire to see ‘conversion therapy’ outlawed. READ MORE: Christian Wakeford MP says ‘conversion therapy’ needs ‘stamping out across society’ It will seek to restrict “practices whose predetermined purpose is to change a person’s sexual orientation or to change a person to or from being transgender,” the latter of which has been the source of intense scrutiny from campaigners on either end of the ‘conversion therapy’ debate. “Effectively, both sides are actually complaining about the same thing,” explained Russell-Moyle. “They are complaining that some people are coming in with a premeditated outcome, trying to either stop you being trans or force you being
