At the beginning of April news broke that the much anticipated plan to ban conversion therapy in the UK was to be dropped by the Government.

Such was the backlash from across the political spectrum that a U-turn was quickly performed.

On the same day that plans for a complete ban were dropped, the government announced that the practise of conversion therapy would be banned for lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals. However, would remain legal for transgender people in the UK.

Conversion therapy is the use of methods, such as aversive stimulation or religious counselling, to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation.

It is also used in an attempt to persuade trans people to alter their gender identity to correspond with the sex they had at birth.

The practice has been described by NHS England as ‘unethical and potentially harmful’, and condemned by mental wellbeing charity Mind as something which has ‘a terrible impact on a person’s mental health’.

Whilst the exact numbers are not known, it is estimated that conversion therapy has affected the lives of 7% of LGBTQ+ people in the UK. And this figure reached as high as 28% for black trans people.

Despite eight other countries around the world banning conversion therapy and making it easier for people to determine there own gender, the UK is still lagging behind in rights for LGBTQ+ people.

The government carried out a consultation on reforms to the gender recognition act in 2019, in which 64% of respondents were in favour of making it easier for trans people to have the right to self determination.

Despite this consultation the government decided to make only minor reforms to the act mainly to modernise. However, most will still find the current support in place inadequate and made difficult to access.

Cuts to health care funding have led to large numbers of LGBTQ+ services being closed. This has led to huge waiting lists for those trying to access NHS gender clinics, in some areas the wait for a first appointment with a gender clinic is more than five years with thousands still on the waiting lists.

Long waiting lists for clinics and lack of mental health provision also means that LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately more likely to experience mental health issues and other things such as, homelessness. Young people in the LGBTQ+ community are also thought to be twice more likely to take their own lives.

It has been services for LGBTQ+ people which have faced cuts when money needs to be saved, without adequate funding and staff these services and waiting lists will not improve.

The Government should immediately follow other countries in banning conversion therapy.

The gender recognition act needs more than just modernising, it should be completely reformed to ensure anyone has the right to self determination.

But reforms alone will not be enough for many.

Money and staff is needed to reverse cuts to services which many rely on.