Government has not delivered on promise made over two years ago
Please sign the petition: StopDithering.com
London, UK – 8 February 2021
Stephen Fry has joined forces with veteran LGBT+ rights campaign Peter Tatchell to demand the UK government ‘stop dithering’ and get on with banning LGBT+ conversion therapy. It promised to outlaw the ‘damaging and discredited’ practice on 3 July 2018 but still no ban is in sight.
Stephen Fry is backing the Peter Tatchell Foundation’s ‘Stop Dithering’ petition, which will be presented to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, at 10 Downing Street.
Please sign the petition: StopDithering.com
Stephen Fry said: “Please support the Stop Dithering campaign. Any attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is unethical. I urge you to sign this petition and call on the UK government to act swiftly to honour its pledge to make this cruel, contemptuous and harmful practice illegal.”
Peter Tatchell added: “These therapies are immoral, ineffective and damaging. No one should be told their sexual orientation or gender identity is something that is flawed and requires changing. The practice is based on the bigoted assumption that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans is a defect or illness that can be ‘cured’.
“LGBT+ conversion treatments are damaging and discredited. They have been condemned by all major UK medical, psychological and counselling organisations. Attempts to shame or pressure a person into denying a core part of who they are can have a devastating impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
“The government has said this is a complex issue but Germany and states in the US and Australia have managed to ban it. While Boris Johnson and Liz Truss procrastinate, people continue to suffer as a result of this quack practice, which has been linked to anxiety, depression and self-harm.
“Only last week, the Australian state of Victoria showed that it can done. Its Change and Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill also gives investigative powers to Victoria’s Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. This is a model for the UK to emulate,” said Mr Tatchell.
Note: LGBT+ Conversion therapy refers to any form of physical or psychological treatment that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or suppress a person’s gender identity.