Senior Christian leaders in the U.K. have warned that a proposed ban on so-called conversion therapy would criminalize core elements of Christian belief. In a letter to the equalities minister, they stated that the legislation could make it illegal to share the Gospel or guide children on issues of gender and sexuality.
The open letter, organized by the Let Us Pray campaign and backed by The Christian Institute, was signed by 24 leaders from various denominations and sent to Equalities Minister Olivia Bailey, The Telegraph reported.
The leaders wrote that Labour’s planned ban on sexual orientation change efforts therapy, including pastoral counseling, could “criminalize mainstream, historic Christian teaching on marriage and sexual ethics” and “make sharing the Gospel with some people illegal.”
The letter expressed concern that the legislation might prevent parents from urging caution if their child, who is experiencing gender confusion, shared an interest in irreversible trans procedures. It said existing laws already prohibit abuse and claimed that campaigners advocating for the new ban routinely conflate “the ordinary work of churches with abuse.”
The signatories argued that prayer and pastoral conversations were being wrongly framed as forms of conversion therapy. “They imply that merely expressing Christian beliefs on sexuality and gender in prayer and pastoral conversations constitutes ‘conversion therapy’ and should be outlawed.”
The Christian Institute spokesperson pointed to comments made by Bailey at a recent Labour conference event, where she said she was “working hard” to bring forward a draft bill. The spokesman claimed that Labour’s repeated promises had failed to produce a workable law because “drafting a workable, human rights-compliant bill is impossible.”
Labour revived efforts to pass the ban in 2024 with the launch of the Office for Equality and Opportunity. The party has committed to introducing a “full, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices” and described it as a legislative priority.
The Church of England’s General Synod called for a ban on conversion therapy in 2017, saying the practice had “no place in the modern world.” In a recent statement, a Church of England spokesman said the denomination “has consistently opposed coercive conversion therapies and supports the government’s intention to ban such practices.”
Conversion therapy can allegedly range from prayer and talking therapies to more severe practices such as food deprivation, exorcism and physical abuse. About 5% of respondents to the U.K. government’s 2018 LGBT survey reported being offered some form of conversion therapy, while 2% said they had experienced it, the Telegraph noted.
The Christian Institute reported in June that the Labour government had begun talks with the Scottish National Party to align their legislative plans. The group also said a draft bill for England and Wales would be released “very soon” following demands from trans-activist campaigners after the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that the definition of “sex” in the Equality Act refers to biological sex.
The Labour manifesto pledged a trans-inclusive ban on conversion therapy, “while protecting the freedom for people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity.”
The Scottish Government had paused its own draft legislation in September 2024 after concerns about a judicial review, stating it would instead pursue “complementary approaches across the U.K.”
In May, SNP Equalities Minister Kaukab Stewart warned that Scotland would introduce its own bill in the next parliamentary session if the U.K. legislation “does not meet our priorities or does not go far enough.”
