Hundreds of clergy including two members of the Church of England’s ruling body have said they are prepared to become criminals if the government outlaws conversion therapy.
Up to 500 people, most of whom are clergy in various Christian denominations, have signed an open letter to Liz Truss, who is both foreign secretary and equalities secretary, in protest against moves to ban the practice of counselling LGBT people with the aim of converting them to heterosexuality.
Two members of the Church of England’s general synod — Dr Julie Maxwell, a paediatrician in Basingstoke, and the Rev Ian Paul from Nottingham — are among the 11-strong pan-denominational group that wrote the letter.
In the message to Truss, the clergy said that they “very much hope (and pray) that these proposals will be dropped in their current form”.
Ministers first indicated three years ago that the government would legislate to ban the practice. Truss published a consultation on the proposals at the end of October with the deadline for responses this Friday.
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She was criticised by some for allowing only a six-week response time instead of the normal 12 weeks allocated to government consultations.
In the consultation, the government said there was “no justification” for conversion therapy, which it described as “coercive and abhorrent”. It also said “the evidence is clear” that conversion therapy did not change people from being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender but that it “can cause long-lasting damage to those who go through it”. It said ministers would “bring forward a ban in the criminal law that is supported by additional civil interventions that will ensure these practices are ended”.
The open letter to Truss said that the clergy had “no desire to become criminals, and place a high value on submitting to and supporting our government.
“Yet we think it important you are aware that if it were to come about that the loving, compassionate exercise of orthodox Christian ministry, including the teaching of the Christian understanding of sex and marriage, is effectively made a criminal offence, we would with deep sadness continue to do our duty to God in this matter.”
The letter stated the signatories “are deeply concerned” that the legislation would have a negative impact on the practice of religion in the UK.
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The clergy added that they feared that any new law “could be used against Christian parents who could equally be criminalised for loving advice and teaching given to their own children”.
One of the organisers of the letter, the Rev Dr Matthew Roberts, the minister of Trinity Church in York, said “the government seems to be considering legislation that would criminalise normal, loving Christian ministry, while stopping us from helping young people who are being caught up in the horrible damage being done by transgender ideology”. He maintained that “nothing we do could be considered therapy. But the proposals are drafted so badly, and with such apparent ignorance of basic Christian teaching, that entirely standard Christian teaching would be criminalised in the name of something that has nothing to do with us.”
A government spokeswoman said: “The ban will not stop religious leaders from offering their support on issues around sexual orientation and transgender identity. It will only cover those who seek to change a person to be something they are not rather than offering impartial support.”
