Conversion practices – sometimes called “reparative therapy” or “gay cure therapy” – try to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity, according to the British Psychological Society (BPS).
In practice, it means trying to stop or suppress someone from being gay or from identifying as a different gender to their sex recorded at birth.
It often includes talking therapies and prayer but more extreme forms can exist.
The BPS and other professional bodies, including NHS England and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said all types of conversion practices are “unethical and potentially harmful”.
The bill would make it a criminal offence to provide conversion therapy, or to engage in coercive conversion behaviour, with the goal of changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
It would also make it an offence to remove a person from Northern Ireland for the purposes of subjecting them to conversion practices.
The definition for coercive behaviour is borrowed from the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021.
It includes violent or threatening behaviour, humiliating the victim, or controlling their to day activities.