Today marks a critical first step toward banning conversion practices - something Galop, survivors, and the wider LGBT+ community have long campaigned for.  

After eight years of consecutive governments promising and failing to deliver a ban on conversion practices, Galop welcomes the Government’s publication of this long-overdue draft bill. Galop frequently supports people who have experienced conversion practices, and we know from our latest research that this abuse remains a current risk for the LGBT+ community.

This legislation has the potential to protect countless LGBT+ people from abuse that has been permitted for too long.

In the current climate of increasing anti-LGBT+ hostility and the growing exclusion of trans+ people, it’s more important than ever for the government to make clear that LGBT+ people do not need ‘fixing’. There is nothing wrong with being LGBT+, and the practices which seek to change or punish someone’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity are abhorrent and abusive.

Jasmine O'Connor OBE, Co-CEO of Galop, shared:

"As LGBT+ anti-abuse experts, Galop frequently witnesses the devastating impacts caused by conversion practices. We know all too well how gaps in legislation have left LGBT+ people unprotected against covert and insidious forms of abuse, and we welcome this long-overdue legislation – it’s a vital first step toward addressing conversion practices as a distinct form of harm. As Galop’s latest research shows, conversion practices are happening today. This legislation is urgently needed, and we will keep working to inform the parliamentary process and ensure the ban protects LGBT+ people from all conversion practices."

Galop’s new report, “Still Not Illegal”, exposes the lived reality of LGBT+ people who have experienced conversion practices. The people whose stories are shared in our report could have been protected. Each delay to this vital legislation meant more and more victims and survivors were failed and left at risk.  

• In one case, a survivor shared that he “was beaten, locked in rooms and made to stay in his own filth as a way to change his sexuality”.  

• One client was frequently told by his parents that his sexuality is 'just a phase'. He was told to cut his hair, and his parents regularly pressured him to marry a woman or have children. He shared that this abuse was continuous. His parents made him attend a church gathering where there was group prayer, as part of what he believes is their mission to 'change' his sexuality.

• Another client who was subjected to significant emotional abuse shared that “conversion therapy often feels like my last possible hope to make my parents love me again”.  

We know that conversion practices remain a modern-day risk for LGBT+ people in the UK. Drawing on evidence from 195 cases across three years (2022-25), Galop’s research found that:  

• In most cases analysed (68%), the conversion practices were currently happening, recent, or ongoing. 

• The majority of cases analysed (81%) involved coercive and controlling conversion practices, such as emotional and psychological abuse, threats, forced marriage, or restriction and surveillance.  

• The vast majority of clients in the cases analysed (81%) were subjected to multiple conversion practice attempts over time. 

• In the majority of cases analysed, the conversion practices were perpetrated or initiated by family (76%), especially by a parent/s (63%). 

Current UK law does not adequately recognise the nuanced and distinct harms caused by conversion practices. Thanks to the tireless work of dedicated campaigners and organisations, like Galop and those in the Ban Conversion Practices Coalition, we are significantly closer to making this abuse illegal. But the work doesn’t end here.  

We will continue to work alongside the Ban Conversion Practices Coalition during this first phase, ‘pre-legislative scrutiny’, to provide evidence and scrutiny to ensure this legislation is robust and effective in ending conversion practices once and for all.

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