13/07/2025
In the new edition of gay magazine Attitude, Peter Tatchell blasts the old conservative government and its replacement, Sir Kier Starmer's Labour Party in its failings on many LGBTQIA+ issues. In particular, Mr Tatchell highlights years of dithering over anti-gay and anti-trans "conversion therapies" that are condemned not only by LGBT+ advocates, but also mental health organisations and responsible wellbeing charities. Mr Tatchell writes: "It has now been a full year since Keir Starmer’s Labour government swept into power on promises of integrity, compassion and change. For the LGBTQ+ community, that promise included finally ending so-called “conversion therapy” – an unethical and abusive practice condemned by every major medical, psychological and counselling body in the UK and worldwide. They say it is damaging and based on the prejudiced assumption that LGBTQs are flawed and broken; that we need to become straight and cisgender. Let’s be clear: this is not a new issue. The commitment to outlaw conversion therapy has been promised repeatedly – first by Theresa May in 2018, then by Boris Johnson, and even briefly acknowledged by Rishi Sunak. Kemi Badenoch, when she was equalities minister, wrote to me personally and promised she would ban it. But every Conservative government failed to act, hiding behind “more consultations” and culture war distractions. Labour, in opposition, rightly criticised this inaction. But in power, its record is no better. Keir Starmer has now had 12 months to set out his domestic agenda. And yet when it comes to protecting LGBTQ+ people from the mental and physical damage of conversion practices, his government has chosen to do nothing. Inaction is not neutral. It emboldens those who believe LGBTQ+ people, particularly trans individuals, need to be “fixed.”Labour has been cautious — some might say timid and even retrograde— on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. But banning conversion practices is not an extreme demand. More than 20 other countries have already outlawed them".
