Just a few months ago, the Prime Minister called conversion practices “abhorrent”. The Government’s LGBT Survey of 2018 uncovered that trans people were twice as likely to be subjected to conversion practices as LGB people, with Black trans people and trans people of colour vastly more impacted.
The refusal to ban conversion practices for trans people leaves the most vulnerable in our society exposed to harmful actions disguised as therapies. It is notable that only those opposed to trans inclusion have welcomed this development.
We note that the Government remains committed to it’s Safe To Be Me conference. This conference is spectacularly misnamed. This Government has presided over a time when the narrative around being trans and non-binary in the UK has become considerably more hostile. This morning the EHRC issued guidance which seems to assume organisations want to exclude trans women and is likely to be misused by a hostile media. Given all this, while any form of conversion practices remain legal, it is clearly not safe to be trans or non-binary in the UK.
We have made our position clear to Government. We view this conference as an insult, and that, in order for us to attend, substantive actions had to be made to improve the lives of trans and non-binary people across the UK. Instead we see warm words followed by back-tracking. With that understanding, it is clearly inappropriate for us to give the conference legitimacy by participating in it or supporting it. We urge all organisations to withdraw from it and see it for the sham it is.