End Conversion Therapy Scotland

The campaign calling for the Scottish Government to bring an end to the abusive practice of conversion therapy in Scotland.

What is Conversion Therapy?

Conversion therapy aims to change or suppress an individual’s sexual orientation, to repress or reduce their sexual attraction or behaviours, or to change an individual’s gender identity to match the sex they were assigned at birth.

Conversion therapy, the forced conditioning against a person’s sexuality or gender identity, has damaged generations of LGBT+ young people and adults and continues to do so. Almost two-thirds of respondants to a survey on the practice had suffered from mental health issues as a result of experiencing conversion therapy, and nearly a third said they had sought counselling to help them recover from it. Mental health issues caused by experiences of Conversion Therapy include many experiencing self-harm, eating disorders, and attempted suicide. Source: Ozanne Foundation

A majority of those who have experienced the practice support a criminal ban.

Our call for a ban is backed by a UN independent expert report to the Human Rights Council, religious leaders from across the world, and Healthcare and Counselling organisations from across the UK.

What are we calling for?

We are calling for action by the Scottish Government to bring an end to the abusive practice of conversion therapy in Scotland. The experiences of those who were put through this practice show a significant public health case for banning conversion therapy and the need for a criminal ban. These areas fall within the devolved powers of the Scottish Government and should be legislated for by the Scottish Parliament.

Legislation should be introduced to ban:

causing a person to undergo conversion therapy
removing a minor from Scotland to undergo conversion therapy abroad
providing conversion therapy
advertising an offer to provide conversion therapy

This must be supplemented by further measures, including:

establishing a public complaints mechanism for reports of conversion therapy
ensuring support for survivors, including access to counselling
safeguarding and awareness training for public and private healthcare and support sector
safeguarding and awareness training for religious organisations
engagement with religious leaders on the impact of certain teachings on their LGBT members