Stormont ‘conversion therapy’ Bill enables self-ID in law, top KC warns

A private member’s Bill to ban so-called conversion practices in Northern Ireland would enshrine “gender self-identification” into law, a distinguished KC has warned.

In a legal opinion for The Christian Institute, Aidan O’Neill KC said Alliance MLA Eóin Tennyson’s conversion practices Bill allows for an individual’s gender identity to embrace whatever they ‘consider it to be’.

He described the proposals, set to be debated next week, as “jellyfish legislation”, with “impossible to grasp” concepts, “wholly undefined” limits, and a “sting in the tail” of up to two years in prison and steep fines for those who transgress.

Repercussions

Mr O’Neill argued that the undefined term “gender identity” could extend well beyond transgender identity, potentially encompassing claims to be non-binary, non-gendered or even “cisgender”.

The breadth in definition, he explained, is significant because the Bill does not simply prohibit attempts to change someone’s identity, it also expressly prohibits attempts to “suppress” it.

He said that a parent could potentially commit an offence by advising a child against socially or medically transitioning; discouraging a daughter from wearing overly-sexualised clothing; directing a heterosexual teenage son away from Andrew Tate podcasts or blocking his access to hardcore pornography.

He also indicated that mainstream pastoral work, prayer and religious counselling could be caught where a minister expresses orthodox teaching about sex and gender in a way considered to be directing an individual away from their claimed identity.

Repercussions

Institute Deputy Director Simon Calvert said: “Everyone agrees that violence, abuse and actual coercion should be dealt with by the criminal law. Northern Ireland already has laws against those things.

“The question here is whether the Assembly should create sweeping new criminal offences covering ordinary conversations, advice, prayer and parental guidance – using key concepts which the Bill itself does not even define.

“When a Bill can potentially criminalise a parent for setting reasonable boundaries, a minister for offering basic religious counsel, or a citizen for expressing a sincerely held belief, MLAs need to stop and ask whether this is compatible with a free society.

“Before Northern Ireland creates new criminal offences carrying the possibility of imprisonment, it must be absolutely clear what behaviour is being criminalised. On this analysis, the Bill falls far short of that standard.”

‘Dangerous and illiberal’

Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons MLA has spoken out against the Bill. He said that it is “guaranteed to frighten people into silence” and “puts ordinary family life, religious practice, and honest conversations in the crosshairs of the criminal law”.

He added: “This isn’t a Bill that targets abuse. Abuse is already illegal. This is a Bill that targets belief, conscience, and normal conversation, dressed up as compassion.”

Diane Dodds MLA, DUP Assembly Spokesperson for Health, observed: “This Bill has huge implications that its sponsor hasn’t even begun to consider. It seems to confuse genuine abuse, which is already illegal, with all sorts of innocent parenting and religious activity. It is a dangerous and illiberal piece of legislation.”