The Government published the Draft Conversion Practices Bill earlier this year. The full text of the Bill can be found here. 

The joint committee considering the Bill is accepting evidence until 5pm on Monday, 16 November. The guidance suggests that responses are kept to less than 3000 words, and you must declare if you have substantially used AI. Responses should be uploaded as a Word Document (not a PDF).

You can submit your evidence by clicking 'Start Submission' at the bottom of this page. You will have the opportunity to declare whether you are entering your submission as an individual or on behalf of an organisation.

• Do not feel you need to answer all the questions. The consultation contains sixteen suggested questions, but you are not required to directly answer all (or indeed, any) of them. You can treat them as guidance for areas which the Committee is interested in.
• Do not publish your submission elsewhere. 
• Do not include personal details such as an address, unless you are happy for them to be published. It is mandatory to include a last name and email address.

• Do write in your own words, rather than copying and pasting the suggested points below. Less importance is attached to responses that are identical. 
• Do write from your own experience, whether that is as a parent or grandparent, or about the impact upon churches and other religious organisations. Personal testimony is particularly valuable to the committee. 
• Do remain gracious. Defamatory evidence is unlikely to be published.

• There is very little evidence of widespread harmful conversion practices in the UK. The few reports that do exist draw upon extremely small sample sizes, and fail to provide conclusive evidence of physical harm. 

• Although no one should experience harm or violence on the grounds of their identity, the harmful conduct that this Bill seeks to criminalise is already illegal. Violence, coercion, harassment, and sexual assault are all already illegal under various different laws.

• This Bill does not add any extra legal protections against harm, but functions to criminalise non-affirmative opinions about gender and sexuality.

• The definitions around what constitute conversion practices are far too vague. Words like "alarm" or "distress" to mental health are incredibly subjective grounds for prosecution. 

• There are no protections for relationships between children and trusted advisors, such as teachers, church leaders, or even parents. Ordinary reactions from family and friends may be criminalised.

• This Bill facilitates criminalisation not because of genuine harm, but hurt feelings. This should not constitute grounds for imprisonment for up to 5 years.

The window to submit evidence ends at 5pm on Monday, 16 November. Please pray that the Bill Committee would listen to our concerns, that the Bill would be heavily amended and that young people would be safeguarded from harm.

Thank you for your support as we seek to prevent the criminalisation of parents and pastors who hold to regular Christian teaching.

Draft Conversion Practices Bill - Call for Evidence