EHRC urges UK government to publish draft Bill to ban conversion practices

Article summary

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has written to the Minister for Women and Equalities, the Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP, urging the government to publish a draft Bill to ban conversion practices for pre-legislative scrutiny by Parliament. In the letter, dated 17 October 2023, EHRC Chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner has referred to the government’s ‘public commitment in January 2023 to bring such draft legislation forward’ and has said that the EHRC’s position remains that the legislation is needed. In a press release accompanying the letter, the EHRC has said the legislation must be ‘robust in protecting individuals with the protected characteristics of sexual orientation and gender reassignment from harmful practices, while ensuring that the provision of appropriate care and support is not caught by the ban, and religious freedoms are protected’. In the letter, Falkner has said that the EHRC hopes to see this legislation in the forthcoming...