A prominent human rights lawyer has expressed concerns about a Private Member’s Bill (PMBs) on conversion therapy proposed by a Labour MP, asserting that it could “constitute a serious intrusion into the legitimate activities and practices of Christian churches and religious communities”.
Jason Coppel KC also contends that the bill would “interfere with the legitimate expression of gender-critical views” in a manner that could violate the Human Rights Act 1998.
These remarks were made as the House of Commons debated Lloyd Russell-Moyle’s proposals on Friday, aimed at outlawing conversion practices related to sexual orientation and transgender identity.
While introducing the bill in Parliament, Russell-Moyle addressed concerns about freedom, conscience, and religion. He stated, “On the expression of religious belief, look, I might not like the fact that a priest or another religious figure can stand up on their religious day and say there shouldn't be LGBT people or LGBT people should convert; in my view, it's not a pleasant thing to say, but it is also not conversion practice.
"We have ensured that as long as it's not targeted to a specific individual as a course of conduct, a repeated activity towards an individual, it will never be an offence."
However, Coppel argues that while exemptions have been incorporated into the bill to safeguard the practice of religion, "the central prohibition in the Bill … remains a wide one, applying to churches and other religious organisations, and to those expressing certain views, including gender-critical views, outside those settings."
The Bill faced an impediment when it ran out of time on Friday, as the second reading debate was still ongoing when the clock reached 2.30 pm, the cut-off point for consideration of Private Member's Bill.
Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle requested the debate to resume on 15th March, although further consideration appears unlikely, as it drops to the bottom of the list of PMBs.
