'Coercive and abhorrent': Conversion therapy consultation - A survivor's response
Augustine Tanner-Ihm is an African-American activist, writer, speaker who is a curate at St James & Emmanuel, Manchester, and a Doctoral Student in Leadership, Culture, and Practical Theology at Bakke Graduate University. He was also the winner of the 2020 Church Times Theology Slam competition.
WATCH Augustine’s video intro to the Open Table Network [2 mins].
LAST MONTH the UK government published proposals for ‘ending the coercive and abhorrent practice of conversion therapy’, which attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, ‘while also protecting the vital values that underpin our democratic society, such as freedom of speech, freedom of belief and privacy.’ OTN trustee Augustine Tanner-Ihm invites us to respond:
The context:
In 2017, the Church of England’s governing body, General Synod, backed a ban on conversion therapy and voted to endorse a Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy signed by multiple mental health professional bodies, including the Association of Christian Counsellors, which condemns the practice.
In 2018, Theresa May's government promised to end conversion therapy as part of its LGBT Action Plan.
In 2019, the National Faith & Sexuality Survey provided strong evidence of the harm that ‘conversion therapy is reported to inflict.
In 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said plans for a ban would be brought forward.
But in March 2021, three advisers - including Jayne Ozanne, who proposed the motion on conversion therapy at General Synod in 2017, and commissioned the National Faith & Sexuality Survey - quit the government's LGBT advisory panel amid concerns it was being too slow. LGBT charity Stonewall urged the government to ‘stop dragging its feet’.
Then in the Queen's Speech this May, the government announced a consultation will be held in England and Wales before the law changes, to explore how to ensure the ban does not have ‘unintended consequences’, and that medical professionals, religious leaders, teachers and parents can keep having ‘open and honest conversations’.
Meanwhile in June, the Methodist Church’s governing body, Methodist Conference, voted in support of a motion that ‘no conversion therapy can take place in its name and has called on the UK government to ban the practice without delay’.
To express your views on, and experiences of ‘conversion therapy’, see ‘Ways to respond’ on the Government consultation webpage.
UPDATE 10th December 2021: The consultation deadline has been extended until 11:45pm on Friday 4th February 2022.
A survivor’s response:
For those of us who identify as survivors of ‘conversion therapy’ (CT), this time has been a roller coaster of emotions and past trauma to process. I have had some respect and admiration for the Government for finally tackling something that many people experience - especially those of us in sexual minorities that from Black and Asian backgrounds. But for many of us, the Government’s new proposals do not go far enough.
According to the proposals for consultation, the government affirms the ban on conversion therapy for minors, but will continue to allow this to happen for ‘consenting adults’. This becomes a different dilemma to navigate. On one hand, the government must abide by freedom of speech and religion that's enshrined in our culture and our laws. On the other hand, the government has to abide by human rights for LGBT people as well as other sexual and gender minorities. In the last 20 years these have been in conflict with each other. How do you protect the rights and freedoms of people of faith, and LGBT+ people, while not persecuting the other, and recognising that some of us are in both groups?
A vocal minority within conservative faith communities continues to practise conversion therapy on people in the UK and around the world. This becomes difficult when trying to understand how people in sexual and gender minorities can live flourishing, healthy lives.
As a survivor of this dangerous so-called ‘therapy’, I was a ‘consenting adult’ but did not know what I was getting into. Conversion therapy continues to be a part of traumatic memories that I still suffer from today.
CT essentially says a person’s feelings towards the same sex are unnatural, and are products of a traumatic childhood that can be restored through religious and psychological means. In the early part of the 20th century, the mainstream scientific view was that homosexuality is the immature deviation of the sexual object choice, caused by postnatal influences, some of which could be overcome in analysis to restore a person to heterosexuality. But even Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, wrote:
it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation, it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function produced by certain arrest of sexual development.
- Sigmund Freud, Letter to a Mother of a Homosexual
Modern science has refuted these practices, which were used by mainstream organizations. According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP), regardless of whether people of homosexual orientation are born that way or become gay, their rights should ultimately be the same. The RCP says there is no evidence to support the effectiveness of attempting to cure sexual desire for people of the same gender.
These practices are barbaric - they have no place in modern Britain. We must continue to fight for the complete banning of this practice. For me, as a Christian and a trustee of the Open Table Network, I look to the scriptures to understand truth and justice, and how I should live my life.
St Paul writes to the Church in Philippi,
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.
- Philippians 4:8
When I look at Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, I'm reminded that God calls us as disciples of Jesus to do what is right, to do what is true, and to do what is noble. We know from mental health specialists, medical advisors and many theologians that conversion therapy is unethical and harmful to people. Therefore, understanding our Scripture and understanding reason, we know that this barbaric therapy needs to be in the past. Therefore, my prayer is that the UK government will not merely end conversion therapy but ban it so that all God's people can flourish in this land.
What can we do?
Take part in the consultation to express your views on, and experiences of ‘conversion therapy’. See ‘Ways to respond’ on the Government consultation webpage. The consultation closes at 11:45pm on Friday 10th December 2021.
Donate to ministries like the Open Table Network that tries to be a safe place for people that have never had a faith space to be who they are in Christ. Here’s how you can support us.
Pray that God, who desires all His children to be known and loved, will send them into the safe arms of a loving community. And that these ‘cures’ will be a thing of the past.