A proposed ban on ‘conversion therapy’ in Northern Ireland could criminalise parenting, restrict religious freedom and “leave teachers fearful of expressing honestly held views”, a DUP Minister has said. The News Letter has the story.
An Alliance Party bill to ban so-called conversion therapy could criminalise ordinary parenting, restrict religious freedom and “leave teachers fearful of expressing honestly held views” a DUP Minister has said.
Gordon Lyons MLA has accused Eoin Tennyson – the man behind the proposed legislation – of writing ideology into law at the expense of the public.
The Alliance Deputy Leader has brought a private members bill to the Assembly to ban attempts to change someone’s sexual orientation or ‘gender identity’ – a concept that is not yet defined in law.
Lyons said his rivals are in a “rush to be seen as the most progressive party” – and have drafted a Bill “so vague and so sweeping that it puts ordinary family life, religious practice and honest conversations in the crosshairs of the criminal law”. The DUP MLA said: “Take a mother or father who tells their child, worried about their identity, to slow down and think it through before making life-changing decisions. Under Alliance’s proposals, that could be read as an attempt to ‘suppress’ a gender identity – a parent doing their job, facing up to two years in prison for it. Rather than protecting children it is the criminalisation of ordinary parenting.
“Or take a preacher in his own pulpit, teaching what his church has taught for two thousand years about marriage and sexuality. Legal advice has warned this Bill would have a ‘chilling effect’ on the ability of churches simply to preach. A minister should not need to consult a solicitor before delivering a sermon.
“Or take a teacher, asked a straightforward question by a pupil, who answers honestly rather than reciting an approved script. Under a law this loosely drafted, that honest answer becomes a legal risk.
“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. Legal advice commissioned called it ‘jellyfish legislation’ – impossible to define but guaranteed to frighten people into silence.”
Worth reading in full.
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Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
As I and many others have said many times, free speech died in the UK the day Lucy Connelly went to jail. Yet another proposed nail in the coffin of debate designed to keep us all in approved order towing the woke line.
Criminalising normal behaviour is becoming increasingly standard practice in “liberal democracies”
Who is actually pushing a conversion from normal child to trans? That is the problem. Grooming a child into believing they can change genders. Those are the real villains.
Yes, indeed!
Perhaps Christians will find unlikely allies in Muslims? We know that Muslims are very intolerant of homosexuality, and they’re the last group most politicians in the UK will want to upset.
If this stupid law is brought in then the first thing that will happen is that “attempts to change….” will be defined as “any criticism of”
Simply quoting the 9th Commandment as it applies to people of one sex who claim to be the other will become illegal