Brighton Pride Credit: PA
In a major intervention in the debate over so-called conversion therapy, the United Nations has urged the UK government to ban the practice.
Addressing MPs on Thursday, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, said that attempts to change someone s sexuality or gender identity were haunting and chilling .
As the world s most senior authority on religious rights, Dr Shaheed said a ban would not violate freedom of religion or belief under international law, because of the harm involved in conversion therapy.
He told MPs: International human rights law is clear that the right to freedom of religion or belief does not limit the state’s obligation to protect the life, dignity, health and equality of LGBT+ persons.
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British PM pledges to exempt prayer from LGBT+ conversion therapy ban Reuters 3 hrs ago
By Rachel Savage and Hugo Greenhalgh
LONDON, April 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said prayer for someone exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity will not be criminalised in any conversion therapy ban, as LGBT+ activists and conservative Christians clash over the issue.
Johnson said that appropriate pastoral support (including prayer) would remain legal, in a letter to the Evangelical Alliance, a conservative Christian lobby group representing 3,500 churches, seen by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. I take freedom of speech and freedom of religion very seriously, he wrote in the letter, dated March 27 and which became public this week.
The Prime Minister has confirmed churches can continue using methods of prayer to help “cure” an individual’s sexuality.
Boris Johnson has said the community will be able to receive the ‘appropriate pastoral support including prayer’ for the ‘exploration of their sexual orientation’.
MPs have previously called upon the government to go ahead with a trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban.
Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to ‘erase, repress, cure or change’ someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity through forms psychological and physical methods.
Conversion therapy practice is already outlawed in Switzerland and certain areas in Australia, Canada, the US, and in some cases in India.
Boris Johnson assures that conversion therapy ban won t criminalize pastoral counseling crossmap.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from crossmap.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.