Stonewall: Conversion therapy ban must cover “private prayer”

Infamous LGBT campaign group Stonewall has called on the Government to ensure “private prayer” falls within its forthcoming conversion therapy ban.

A draft Bill on ‘conversion practices’ is expected to be put before Parliament as early as next week, for a period of scrutiny ending in the autumn.

Stonewall also says the new law must be “comprehensive”, covering “all LGBTQ+ adults and children, in all settings”.

“Private Prayer”

Stonewall plays a leading role in the ‘Ban Conversion Therapy’ coalition, which is the main campaign for a ban in the UK.

The group has long called for “private prayer” and “casual conversations” to be outlawed. They say the law would “allow conversion practices to continue” if it makes any allowances for these.

It is quite astonishing that anyone could think people discussing everyday topics should be criminalised. People would face police investigation for what they say at the school gates, and around the water cooler.

Anyone who doesn’t back Stonewall’s ideology will have the constant threat of legal intervention if they say the wrong thing to the wrong person.

But a ban on people praying alone is even more repressive. Who would report themselves? Who would be at fault? It is entirely nonsensical.

Yet at least one of the very few studies claiming to show evidence of ‘conversion therapy’ taking place in the UK relies on reports from people praying alone.

The Government simply cannot appease these demands for a broad ban. If it was wise, it would drop the plans altogether. There is simply no need for a ban: abuse is already illegal.

“Comprehensive”

Politicians may also be caught off their guard when they realise the extent of what Stonewall expects this law to cover. When it says ‘comprehensive’, it means a law that is so vast that almost anything falls within its purview.

They say they want all ‘LGBTQ+’ identities covered. But what would that include? Will the Government define and ‘protect’ all the identities subsumed within ‘Q+’: queer, non-binary, asexual, aromantic, agender, polysexual, polyamorous, furry, BDSM… and so the list goes on. Stonewall has bizarrely claimed some of these groups are at the greatest risk.

Stonewall espouses a series of irrational and contradictory ideas, subsumed within an ideology that says ‘anything goes’ - except disagreeing with them. The rules change from one day to the next, and even the group's founders have fallen foul of its edicts.

The Government must stay clear of all Stonewall’s thinking. A new law forcing its viewpoint on the wider population would be a very unpopular plan indeed.