Attempting to convince a person that they are human, and not a cat, could be illegal under the Government’s draft ‘conversion practices’ Bill, a Policy Exchange report has warned.
‘Not What It Says On The Tin’, written by Baroness Kishwer Falkner and Barrister Akua Reindorf KC, states that the Conversion Practices Draft Bill for England and Wales is “ideological, authoritarian, unworkable and wholly unsuitable legislation for a democratic and pluralistic society”.
In one example, the authors noted that as the Bill’s definition of ‘gender identity’ includes “neither male nor female”, it could cover “hundreds” of identities including ‘catgender’, where a person feels strongly connected to cats or even believes they are one.
Under the proposals, a person could face up to five years in prison for expressing “emotional pressure” that causes a person to believe they do or do not have a particular “identity” or “sexual orientation”.
Silencing debate
The report’s authors argued that the legislation “extends well beyond” addressing “obviously harmful and unjustifiable practices”, such as corrective rape and electric shock therapy, which are already illegal.
Instead, they branded it “a barely disguised collateral attack on essential legal protections enjoyed by those who do not subscribe to a specific narrow set of beliefs about gender identity”.
They explained that parents could be criminalised for refusing to endorse their gender-confused child “embarking on a one-way path of experimental medicalisation and surgical body modification”, while children from the age of ten could be prosecuted for asking their classmates questions.
In addition, Lady Falkner and Reindorf warned that activists could use Conversion Practices Protections Orders to “close down the activities of their opponents, whether those are parents exercising ordinary parental control and discipline, gender critical organisations engaging in legitimate political debate and campaigning or religious communities offering pastoral care in good faith”.
‘Dangerous’
Dismissing the report, a Government spokesman claimed the draft Bill “targets a specific form of abuse”, and “does not touch regular parenting”.
But Baroness Davies of Devonport said: “Criminalising ordinary conversations between parents and children, or teachers and children, is an unconscionable intrusion into family life and will see gender self-ID being effectively introduced by the back door.
“This legislation is dangerous for parents – and most importantly for vulnerable children.”
Engaging with the report on social media, barrister Naomi Cunningham added: “If you’re a parent and the draft Conversion Practices Bill doesn’t terrify you, you haven’t yet understood what it could do to you and the people you love best.”
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