The Scottish Government is being urged to introduce a bill that will end conversion practices as soon as possible.
A coalition of Scottish LGBTQIA+ organisations, including Equality Network, Scottish Trans, LGBT Health and Wellbeing, LGBT Youth Scotland and LEAP Sports have today written to the Government calling on them to keep its manifesto promise and introduce its own bill.
Conversion practices are treatments, practices, services or acts which deliberately try to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. At their most extreme, conversion practices can involve physical and sexual violence.
Dr Rebecca Don Kennedy, CEO of Equality Network, said: “There is no place for conversion practices in Scotland in 2026.
“Scotland has been developing policy for over half a decade intended to finally end conversion practices in all its forms. The Scottish Government promised the community that if Westminster's proposals were not strong enough and if they did not align with their principles that they would bring their own bill forward in year one of the parliamentary term. They are not, they do not, and so that time is now.
“Our government has an opportunity to show true leadership, to listen to our community, and to get it right. We ask the Scottish Government, as a matter of urgency, to stay true to their principles, keep their promise to victims and survivors of conversion practices and the wider LGBTQI+ community, and bring a comprehensive bill forward as soon as possible.”
The request comes after a draft bill covering England and Wales was published by the UK government last month, while in Northern Ireland, a private member’s bill has been introduced to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The coalition says that the UK Government bill in its current form fails to adequately address all forms of conversion practices and would not protect those at risk of harm. They state that these proposals would not apply across all settings, and that using a definition of conversion practices that includes ‘abusive’ suggests an alternative form of practices that would not be harmful or abusive, providing a loophole for consent.
According to the coalition, the UK draft bill also fails to include conversion practices that suppress a person’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity and contains a very broad healthcare exemption which would allow anyone, including unregulated ‘therapists’, to continue with these harmful practices.
As it stands, Scotland is the only part of the UK that has not introduced a draft bill to end the harm caused by conversion practices.
