Danger behind this humane Bill

ON THE surface, the Government’s Conversion Therapy (Prohibition) Bill seems like a humane idea. The aim is to stop gay people under the age of 18 from being victimised or coerced into denying their sexual orientation. All well and good, surely? Well, not exactly. The Bill also includes children who want to undergo hormone treatment for gender reassignment.

There is a big difference between sexual orientation and gender. Who a person loves does not alter them irreversibly; who they want to be, in terms of gender, can. Under the scope of this Bill, it is possible that a parent of a child contemplating irreversible hormone therapy could end up in court for questioning their child’s decision.

This has already happened in Canada, where a father was jailed for six months this year after objecting to his troubled daughter transitioning fully to a male. He felt she had been led on by outside influences, including medical professionals, and was uncomfortable with her making an irreversible choice which she might later regret.

Of course, we shouldn’t deny trans people the chance to be happy in their own skins. But we must safeguard immature brains from doing things they can never go back on. That was the case with Keira Bell, who transitioned as a teenager and has since changed her mind. She will have to live the rest of her life with the consequences – facial hair, a double mastectomy, fertility problems. If we take away the right of parents to ask questions, how many others will suffer her fate?