SNP prepares to vote on radical LGBTQ+ conference motion

• Motion for a Scottish ‘conversion practices’ Bill “condemns” Westminster’s draft Bill as “inadequate”

• This comes despite Westminster draft already threatening up to five years in prison for parents who advise caution to their children over gender transition

The SNP is set to vote on a radical LGBTQ+ proposal that could criminalise parents for refusing to buy their daughter a chest binder or consent to her taking sex-change drugs, according to The Christian Institute.

On their publicly available conference agenda, the SNP has published the motion, which is set to be voted on at their conference beginning on 15 October. It blasts Westminster’s draft conversion practices Bill as “inadequate” and calls on the Scottish Government to introduce its own more extreme Bill “within the first year of this new Parliament”.

The motion reopens a row the Scottish Government has been trying to offload onto Westminster ever since its own proposals for a conversion practices law – published in 2024 – were met with widespread derision.

Parents were outraged at the prospect of being criminalised for refusing to consent to their teenage children taking puberty blockers, and church leaders warned they could face jail time for expressing Christian sexual ethics in prayer and pastoral conversation. Even within the SNP there was pushback, with 15 SNP MSPs reportedly prepared to break the whip.

By that September, the Scottish Government had withdrawn its plans and handed responsibility for a ban to Westminster.  The Scottish Government admitted to LGBT group Out for Independence, one of the signatories of the motion, that the reason for the U-turn was to ensure they “don’t end up facing judicial review” (The Christian Institute had threatened judicial review just months earlier).

The 2026-2031 Programme for Government reiterates the Scottish Government’s commitment to work with the UK Government on a legislative ban applying to Scotland, while making clear that, should the UK Government fail to deliver, it “will not hesitate to bring forward Scottish legislation”.

The Christian Institute’s Senior Public Affairs Officer Joanna Timm said:

“We condemn violence and abuse, and thankfully, such acts are already criminal under Scottish and UK law. 

“The Scottish Government’s failed attempt to introduce a ‘conversion practices’ ban and the Westminster Government’s draft Bill go much further – criminalising almost anything short of total affirmation of a transgender identity. This could include a parent guiding their child away from harmful bodily interventions like breast-binding; a pastor advising a husband not to leave his wife and family in order to live as a woman; or a colleague using biologically-accurate pronouns for a person in the workplace. 

“The Westminster draft Bill already captures ’emotional’ and ‘economic’ pressure, which could include a wife refusing to fund her husband’s new ‘female’ lifestyle, or a parent expressing upset at a child’s actions to permanently alter their body. The proposed penalty is up to five years in prison.

“The SNP motion reveals the ambitions of those campaigning for this legislation. They want to ensure that therapists and pastors cannot so much as question someone’s claim to be transgender. This is despite the evidence that has come to light about the link between transgenderism and autism in teens, and the growing number of detransitioners coming forward after youth transitions. Criminalising a cautious approach to serious life-altering choices, especially when children are involved, is harmful and reckless.”

ENDS