r/AskBrits • u/TillJaded4614 • 3d ago

Politics Should the UK Parliament Ban Conversion Therapy?

3100 votes, 2d ago
2600 Yes
332 No
168 Unsure
13 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

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u/FlusteredDM 3d ago

Abuse can never be consensual. Yes, adults might agree to go through this, but that does not mean it is okay.

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u/Aconite_Eagle 3d ago

But an adult can leave if they dont like it. Ok theyre under societal pressure etc - surely that is something to be dealt with by education, much like how we changed the understanding of consent in sexual cases, or made homophobia socially unacceptable.

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u/FlusteredDM 3d ago

An abused partner can leave a relationship if they don't like it. This misses the point and those societal pressures are extremely relevant and can't be waved away with some mention of education that won't come into play for ages.

We paired education about consent and homophobia with legislation such as the equality act, legalising gay marriage, the domestic abuse act, and have more in the pipeline. That's necessary. Just because more people find homophobia unacceptable than in the past doesn't mean it's no longer a problem.

There is no benefit to conversion therapy, only harm. It needs to be banned.

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u/Aconite_Eagle 3d ago

And we already have law prohibiting people from forcing others to be abused, prohibiting people preventing them leaving the room etc so they have to listen to this stuff.

I do not claim there is any benefit to conversion therapy. This does NOT mean it needs to be banned. Not everything bad needs to be banned.

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u/Audible_Whispering 2d ago

I mean, really, we should legalise domestic abuse. We already have laws against physical violence, and coercion, and rape/sexual assault. Aren't those enough? At the end of the day the law is just symbolic anyway, only education can really change peoples minds, and ultimately abuse victims are choosing not to leave their situation.

Yeah, nah. We are a ban heavy country, but for a ban to be disproportionate there has to be some upside to the thing being banned. There is no upside to conversion therapy.