Campaigns
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The five tests that must be passed before any new law banning “conversion practices”
The government has announced in the King’s speech that a “draft bill will be brought forward to ban conversion practices”. In the briefing notes accompanying the King’s speech the government says: “There is genuine cross party and cross society consensus to see these practices banned”. Of course there is...
17th July 2024
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Letter to the Prime Minister: five tests for legislation to ban conversion practices
Alongside other organisations, we wrote to Keir Starmer to ask him to commit to five tests that must be satisfied before going forward with any legislation on “conversion therapy”.
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Stonewall redefines trans to exclude crossdressers
Stonewall has expelled crossdressers from the trans umbrella Stonewall’s long-standing definition of “trans” changed on 27th June 2024 to drop “crossdresser” from the list. Before then, it said: “Trans people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including (but not limited to) transgender,...
28th June 2024
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Calls to ban conversion therapy put children at risk
Proposals to ban conversion therapy or conversion practices are likely to feature among the pledges of political parties as part of their general-election campaigns. On the face of it, banning conversion therapy sounds like an uncontroversial and positive step. But voters and the politicians who seek to represent them...
11th June 2024
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Lords debate conversion therapy
On Friday 9th February 2024 Baroness Burt’s Private Member’s Bill proposing a ban on “conversion therapy” was debated in the House of Lords. Twenty-nine peers spoke against it and fifteen in favour. This was the first time some important arguments had been heard in Parliament. While those in favour...
21st February 2024
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The House of Lords debate on conversion therapy
On Friday 9th February 2024 Baroness Burt’s Private Member's Bill proposing a ban on "conversion therapy" was debated in the House of Lords. Twenty-nine peers spoke against it and fifteen in favour. Some important arguments were heard in Parliament for the first time.
21st February 2024
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Conversion therapy… again
The proposal to legislate to criminalise “conversion therapy” is back again, this time as a private members’ bill introduced by the Liberal Democrat Baroness Burt. It is being debated in the House of Lords today. Private members’ bills don’t usually become law, but they do give a chance to...
9th February 2024
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Conversion therapy and the Cooper report – parliamentary briefing
See also our more detailed parliamentary briefing on conversion therapy.
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Conversion therapy: understanding the GALOP survey – parliamentary briefing
See also our more detailed parliamentary briefing on conversion therapy.
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Parliamentary briefing: conversion therapy
A detailed briefing on the issues. See also our short briefings on conversion therapy and the Cooper report and understanding the Galop survey.
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This is male violence against women
Today is White Ribbon Day, the start of an annual 16 days of activism opposing violence against women. Politicians, celebrities and business leaders will make laudable declarations to “end violence by stopping the silence”. But many will remain silent, or even excuse or encourage the escalating campaign of intimidation,...
25th November 2023
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The escalating campaign of intimidation and violence against gender-critical women
After nearly 15,000 people signed our letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Joanna Cherry KC MP asked Laura Farris, Minister for Victims and Safeguarding, if she would condemn the escalating campaign of violence and intimidation against women in the name of “trans rights”. The minister responded that she had read our letter...
24th November 2023
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A letter to the Prime Minister, 9th November 2023
This pack contains our letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling on him to act to defend gender-critical women from threats, violence and police harassment; the list of named signatories; and more than 3,000 comments added – it was signed by nearly 15,000 people.
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No conversion therapy in the King’s speech
Sex Matters welcomes the news that the government has not committed to bringing forward a bill to ban “conversion therapy” in the King’s speech today. We think that any bill which criminalises forms of talking in relation to gender identity would: What next? We note that those who have...
7th November 2023
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It’s time to ban modern conversion therapy
The campaign to ban “conversion therapy” focuses on historic abuses, like this one that happened in 1964: “During the appointments, I was taken to a dark room and strapped to a wooden chair. Doctors gave me painful electric shocks while images of women were projected on the wall in...
25th October 2023
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Policy proposal: Legislation to ban modern conversion therapy
Any law to ban conversion therapy should seek to solve problems that exist today, not symbolically fight the battles of yesterday.
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Making the Equality Act clear – the story so far
This is the story so far, but it is just the beginning. The next stage in the campaign is to get the government to take action before the election, and get more people to stand up and say “I support single-sex services”. Will you be part of it?
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Stonewall chair speaks (and then recants)
Iain Anderson, chair of trustees for Stonewall, has given an extended interview to Sky News’s Beth Rigby. It is well worth watching the whole thing. In the interview Anderson seemed to be trying to distance the organisation from the extreme position it has taken, saying that he recognises that...
22nd July 2023
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Gender dysphoria in young people is rising – and so is professional disagreement
More children and adolescents are identifying as transgender and are being offered medical treatment, especially in the US – but some providers and European authorities are urging caution because of a lack of strong evidence. Jennifer Block reports.
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Gay Men’s Network: Banning conversion therapy
Gay men respond to the UK government consultation.
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Stonewall ‘eroding’ gender pay gap monitoring among civil servants
Ewan Somerville for The TelegraphMaya Forstater is quoted. Six government departments among employers urged to check inequalities by self-identified gender, according to charity’s training scheme.
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Stonewall is scaremongering: write to your MP
Stonewall has been sending out alarmist emails to MPs which misrepresent the law. On 9th January Kemi Badenoch, the Minister for Women and Equalities, announced that the government would be updating its list of approved overseas countries and territories for gender-recognition certificates. She explained: “There are now some countries and territories...
13th January 2023
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Risks in the final rush to legislate self-ID in Scotland
The Scottish government’s plans to allow anyone from age 16 upwards who is ordinarily resident in Scotland to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) without any medical assessment are due to be voted on by the Scottish Parliament tomorrow, 21st December. The vote comes barely a week after the...
20th December 2022
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Mass harassment in HM Prisons and Probation Service
As reported in The Telegraph today, HM Prisons and Probation Service’s Pride in Prison and Probation (PiPP) staff network has circulated documents for Trans Awareness Week telling MoJ staff to recognise a series of words and phrases as “transphobic dogwhistles”. The PiPP is an official staff network, with a...
20th November 2022
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Petition champions
After just three days we were over a quarter of the way to the 100,000 signatures needed to prompt a parliamentary debate. We’ve now got more than 40,000 signatures. Thank you to everyone who has already signed the Make the Equality Act Clear Petition. Every signature helps! If everyone...
5th November 2022
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Campaign update: Day 1
Yesterday we launched the Make the Equality Act Clear petition, calling on the government to clarify, with a legislative amendment, that sex means sex in the Equality Act 2010. It got an amazing response. In less than 24 hours, 15,000 people signed the petition, and the number is continuing...
3rd November 2022
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Sex Matters writes to the new Chair of Stonewall
Iain Anderson is Stonewall’s new Chair of Trustees. This morning he made his first public appearance, on the BBC. Laura Kuenssberg asked him about engaging with women who are “gender critical”, saying they are asking questions about the trans rights debate and “feel like they have been shut out...
30th October 2022
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Converting minds or bodies?
A riposte to the Good Law Project’s published advice on conversion therapy
16th August 2022
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Thoughtful Therapists
Founded in 2021, a group of psychotherapists and counsellors who campaign to raise awareness of the negative impact of gender ideology on mental-health services, in particular for children with gender dysphoria. Work has focused on government proposals to ban “gender-identity conversion therapy” and on the Memorandum of Understanding on...
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Law firms ‘should quit Stonewall advice scheme’ after Allison Bailey ruling
Catherine Baksi for The Times Victory for the Lionesses in the Euros at the weekend temporarily quelled the debate over what a woman is — they are footballers who win trophies for England. More widely, an employment tribunal published a ruling last week protecting free speech in the gender debate.
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Freedom of information obligations for Stonewall scheme participants
A briefing to inform public authorities participating in Stonewall (and similar) schemes in order to encourage them to respond promptly and appropriately to future freedom-of-information requests.
