Which conversion counts?

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

When does a private conversation become a crime?

British lawmakers are weighing a bill that could put some answers to questions of sex and identity on the wrong side of the law. Here’s WORLD commentator Bethel McGrew.

BETHEL MCGREW: The new draft bill pitches itself as protective legislation for vulnerable LGBT individuals, shielding them from so-called “conversion therapy.” But as written, it would be an authoritarian nightmare for British Christians who affirm a traditional sexual ethic. Minister for Equalities Olivia Bailey introduced the bill with a dramatic emotional plea:

OLIVIA BAILEY: We can all agree that nobody deserves to be abused, no matter who you are. But right now, gaps in the law are allowing a very specific form of abuse to occur, abuse driven by the false belief that being LGBT is shameful, by the false belief that it can be forcibly changed…

Bailey goes on to describe sad scenes of assault and harassment. But it is unclear why these actual crimes wouldn’t be covered by preexisting UK laws against, well, assault and harassment. When it comes to what counts as “abuse,” the text of this new bill leaves the possibilities wide open, defining “conversion therapy” as any attempt to change a person’s sexual self-identity. This could include completely consensual therapy sessions between a provider and a patient. And more, it threatens the rights of any concerned parent, teacher, or pastor who might gently try to persuade a boy that he isn’t actually a girl, or persuade a girl that she isn’t actually a lesbian. All that a young person would have to do is claim that this was causing him “alarm and distress,” or “serious harm to his mental health.” And the penalties are harsh: Up to five years in jail, and potentially unlimited fines.

On paper, this bill is technically supposed to cut both ways, also including those who would try to pressure people into embracing these identities. But in practice, everyone knows there will be no accountability for leftist ideologues. Meanwhile, conservative therapists shouldn’t count on a clause supposedly carving out protections for health care providers. The bill only promises such protection “unless the person acts in a way that falls far below the standards reasonably expected of a person in their position.” It’s not hard to guess how these so-called standards will be defined.

Thankfully, a variety of groups are raising the alarm, including non-Christians. Here’s Tim Dieppe from British free speech advocacy group Christian Concern:

TIM DIEPPE: It used to be very few Christian groups were prepared to stand up and say that we shouldn't ban this. But now more secular groups as well are coming up and saying it. The Free Speech Union is opposed to a ban. Sex Matters is opposed to a ban and various other groups like that. So it’s become a more mainstream position as people have understood more what it’s about.

In particular, there is a unified concern about the bill’s specific application to gender-confused people. The irony is that so-called gender transition functions as its own form of extreme conversion therapy. This is not lost on some gay and lesbian activists who are willing to join forces with conservatives, at least for the moment.

It remains to be seen whether the bill will survive the parliamentary review process. Some will support it in the name of compassion. But we recognize those who would be its actual victims. Not just the people whose speech it would suppress, but the lost souls they are trying to help.

For WORLD, I’m Bethel McGrew.

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