A vote in support of conversion Bill “sends the PSNI into your family home”

Eóin Tennyson’s broad ‘conversion practices’ Bill asks the State to intervene in parenting and casual conversations, says human rights KC.

• Leading human rights lawyer Aidan O’Neill KC warns the legislation could criminalise routine parental guidance, boundary-setting, and private conversations regarding sexuality and gender identity.

• The legal opinion states that the Bill’s definitions make it impossible for parents to know how to avoid criminal liability.

• Alliance MLA Eóin Tennyson’s Private Member’s Bill on ‘conversion practices’ is due for its Second Stage debate at Stormont this Tuesday 15 September.

Ahead of tomorrow’s crucial vote in Stormont, MLAs are being warned that Eóin Tennyson’s Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill asks the PSNI to intervene in family discussions around sexuality or gender identity.

The Bill threatens sanctions of up to two years in prison, where a person says they have felt “fear, alarm or distress” because of any attempt to “suppress” their sexuality or gender expression.

In a formal legal opinion, Aidan O’Neill KC says the legislation’s failure to define these terms means ordinary parental boundaries could be classified as criminal ‘coercion.’ O’Neill warns that a parent who restricts how a teenager dresses, monitors who they associate with, or advises against medical transition could face prosecution, even if they act out of love and with no intention to cause harm.

James Kennedy, NI Policy Officer for The Christian Institute, said:

“Many people are rightly appalled at the idea of abuse taking place today in Northern Ireland. But our existing law offers strong safeguards against coercion in the home and verbal or physical abuse anywhere else too.

“This Bill is different, though. It is ill-conceived and poorly drafted, covering vague notions of ‘suppression’ and ‘gender identity’ without any definition whatsoever. It has no safeguards for private family life, and directly targets even those who only act out of loving care.

“Children and young people can often feel distressed by parental restrictions about what they can and cannot do. This is an ordinary part of family life. Yet it falls squarely within the offences described in this Bill.

“We must all urge our MLAs to oppose this Bill. A vote in favour effectively sends the PSNI into your family home. A simple discussion over the family dinner table risks turning into a police interview under caution.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• On criminalising parents (Para 4.14): “This means that any discussions, questioning, guidance or general parental direction, guidance, controls and restrictions in relation to a person’s sexuality and/or their claimed or presumed gender identity which the Police Service of Northern Ireland or all and any who might seek to mount prosecutions under this proposed legislation would deem to be “directive” or “coercive”, will in principle be able to be criminalised.”

• On benevolent motives (Para 4.16): “It is clear that it will be no defence for a parent to say that they acted out of love and with a view to help their child and that they had no intention by their intervention to cause their child to suffer fear or alarm or distress or any kind of harm.”

• On restricting teenagers (Para 4.17, 4.19): “It is clear that what might fall within this definition would be acts by a parent which might be said to regulate, restrict, or monitor their own child’s behaviour… For example, this might include forbidding their child from dressing in a way that the child claims reflects their sexual orientation or their gender identity… Thus parents who actively and consistently and directly oppose their child’s decision to, for example, present as a different gender from that given at birth would be committing a criminal offence.” 

• On the impossibility of compliance (Para 5.10): “The proposals for this legislation simply fail to define what are to become criminal “conversion practices”. It will thus become impossible for individual parents and faith groups and medical practices and political associations to be able to know how to regulate their behaviour to avoid falling foul of the criminal law.”