By Ivy Taylor
Trans rights activists will take to the streets of Cardiff later today in protest of the UK government’s refusal to ban conversion therapy practices targeted at transgender people.
Organised by mutual aid group Trans Aid Cymru, the protest is set to take place outside the UK Government Hub, 5 Central Square from 1pm onwards.
The group’s stated demands are full legal protections for transgender, intersex and nonbinary individuals from conversion therapy; commitments from both the Senedd and Westminster to communicate that being trans, intersex or nonbinary is not a negative outcome; and an end to the pathologisation of transness and of intersex bodies through a significant overhaul in NHS and healthcare industry practices.
Today’s protest follows a number of other similar actions by trans rights activists in England, including Brighton, Manchester, and Westminster, the latter of which attracted around 3,000 people.
Cover image: Steve Eason
This latest wave of protests was sparked following the revelation that Boris Johnson’s Conservative government would introduce a ban on conversion therapy practices for lesbian, gay and bisexual people, but not for transgender people.
LGBT+ anti-abuse charity Galop describes describes conversion therapy as “any practice which tries to change or suppress someone’s orientation or gender identity… This can be seriously damaging to the LGBT+ person and is a form of abuse.”
Plans first leaked to ITV revealed that the UK government initially intended not to introduce any ban on conversion therapy practices, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced into a partial u-turn following uproar from his own backbench and wider society. The u-turn did not include transgender people however, who will still be susceptible to practice under current plans.
It came four years after former Prime Minster Theresa May announced her government would improve trans rights in the UK, and less than 24 hours after Jamie Wallis, Conservative MP for Bridgend and Porthcawl, announced that he was transgender. Wallis, who still uses he/him pronouns, has since said he is “bitterly disappointed” at the government’s decision.
A parliamentary petition in support of including trans people in the conversion therapy ban has received nearly 140,000 signatures at the time of reporting. The government is required to consider for debate in parliament any petition with over 100,000 signatures.
