Queen Elizabeth II delivered her first major remarks since the funeral of her husband Prince Philip on Tuesday, opening the new session of Parliament and outlining the UK government’s legislative agenda, including plans to ban LGBTQ conversion therapy .
Known as the Queen’s Speech, the speech was heard by a small audience due to Covid safety precautions.
“Measures will be proposed to address racial and ethnic disparities and to ban conversion therapy,” Queen Elizabeth II announced to the House of Lords in London.
The opening ceremonial speech for the new British parliamentary session is delivered by the reigning monarch, but the content of the remarks is usually worked out by the Prime Minister and taken to reflect the priorities of the new governing body. So while the Queen herself has little or no real power to push through the nation’s ban on conversion therapy, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hopefully put his money where it is, therefore, to say.
The medically debunked practice of conversion therapy aims to change people’s sexuality and / or gender identity. The practice is often closely linked to religion and has proven ineffective and extremely damaging to those subjected to it.
Johnson has already opposed the practice. While mayor of London, he said she had “no place in civilized society” and banned advertisements for her on the city’s subways.
As prime minister, Johnson struggled to enact a ban. Notably, his equality adviser Jayne Ozanne and two other members of the government’s LGBT advisory committee have resigned, in part because of the freezing pace towards passing a ban.
Today, Ozanne told ITV News: “While I warmly welcome the news that there will finally be a ban, I am concerned that we have even more consultations.
“The government simply needs to protect the lives of all LGBT people by doing what the UN has advised and by banning all forms of conversion therapy, including religious practices.
“They have consulted long enough, now is the time to act and present legislation that protects everyone from this inhuman and degrading abuse.”
In the United States, President Joe Biden has pledged a nationwide ban on underage practice during his campaign. The LGBTQ policy section of its website states:
“Hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ + people have been subjected to so-called ‘conversion therapy’ in their lifetime, which Biden says is deeply harmful, highly unscientific and often leads to trauma. The Obama-Biden administration has supported legislative efforts to ban “conversion therapy” against minors, but today the practice is only completely banned for minors in 19 states. As president, Biden will work to enact the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act. “
