OTN Patron & Co-Chair among church leaders calling for PM to include trans people in ‘conversion therapy’ ban
Open Table Network Patron Rachel Mann and Co-Chair Alex Clare-Young were among the 14 church leaders calling on the Prime Minister to remove the exclusion of trans people from the proposed ‘conversion therapy’ ban
AS TRANS DAY OF VISIBILITY drew to a close last week, a leaked report showed that the UK Government was NOT planning to ban 'conversion therapy' - which attempts to change or suppress someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity - despite extensive consultation in support of a ban.
In response, the Government announced that 'conversion therapy' would be banned, but only for sexual orientation, NOT gender identity, despite the UK Government's own research showing that trans people were twice as likely to have been offered conversion therapy than gay and bisexual people.
Now, the former Archbishop of Canterbury is among a group of Christian leaders calling on the government to include trans people in a proposed conversion therapy ban.
Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams, along with 13 other faith leaders, have written the prime minister following the U-turns by Boris Johnson's government.
The letter sent to the Prime Minister today, coordinated by Revd Canon Steve Chalke, Baptist minister, and founder of Oasis Trust, said:
Conversion to Christianity is the event or process by which a person responds joyfully to the glorious embrace of the eternally loving and ever-merciful God. It has nothing to do with so-called ‘conversion therapy’ – pressure put by one person on another to fit their expectations; the attempt to induce vulnerable and isolated people to deny who they truly are.
To be trans is to enter a sacred journey of becoming whole: precious, honoured and loved, by yourself, by others and by God.
To allow those discerning this journey to be subject to coercive or undermining practices is to make prayer a means of one person manipulating another. It is a wrong-hearted notion of care and a wrong-headed understanding of conversion. Every church should be a safe space that affirms people in being who they are, without fear of judgement.
We see no justification for the ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy’ excluding trans people.
Also among those calling on the Government to reconsider were:
Revd Canon Rachel Mann, a trans priest in the Church of England, and Patron of the Open Table Network (OTN)
OTN Co-Chair Revd Alex Clare-Young, a trans non-binary United Reformed Church minister
Revd Canon Sarah Jones, the first person to be ordained after having made a gender transition in the UK
Rt Revd Dr Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham
the Deans of Manchester, St Paul's, Southwark and St Edmundsbury Cathedrals.
Revd Jide Macaulay, Founder & CEO of House Of Rainbow
Professor Susannah Cornwall, Professor of Constructive Theologies, University of Exeter
Revd Paul Bailey; Pentecostal minister
Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London.
The Welsh government is also seeking legal advice on what ‘unilateral action’ it can take separately from the UK government towards a ban on ‘conversion therapy’ which includes trans people.
Christians Support The Ban letter update
ON 1st March a letter from more than 2600 Christian leaders who fully support the UK Government's plan to ban so-called 'conversion therapy' was sent to the Equalities Office. The Open Table Network was one of thirteen Christian organisations who endorsed this letter.
We received an encouraging response from the Minister for Equalities, Mike Freer MP, who wrote:
I wholly share your view that LGBT+ people cannot, and indeed should not, be cured or changed… I am clear that there is no justification for these damaging practices and the evidence is clear that it does not work…
I particularly appreciate you making your letter public and I fully anticipate referencing your thoughtful and considered points when engaging with other faith stakeholders.
