LGBT summit is set to be axed

LGBT summit is set to be axed after more than 100 groups pull out over trans conversion therapy row

  • Government source said the Safe To be Me summit is set to be scrapped 
  • More than 100 LGBT and HIV groups had pulled out over ministers’ failure to ban trans conversion therapy
  • It came as Boris Johnson’s LGBT business champion Iain Anderson quit his post over the issue
  • His resignation follows attempts to introduce legal ban on the abhorrent practice of claiming to ‘convert’ gay people to heterosexuality 

Plans for London to host an international conference on LGBT issues were in tatters last night amid the row over transgender conversion therapy.

A government source said the Safe To be Me summit, originally scheduled for June, is set to be scrapped after more than 100 LGBT and HIV groups pulled out over ministers’ failure to ban trans conversion therapy.

The admission came as Boris Johnson’s LGBT business champion Iain Anderson quit his post over the issue.

His resignation follows attempts to introduce a legal ban on the abhorrent practice of claiming to ‘convert’ gay people to heterosexuality. 

While this particular proposal has been widely welcomed, some expressed concerns over the new law also preventing therapists from helping children with ‘gender dysphoria’ to decide whether they really want to transition. 

Campaigners warned the legislation was so badly drafted that teachers could end up in court if they do not let boys play in girls’ sports teams.

A government source said the Safe To be Me summit, originally scheduled for June, is set to be scrapped after more than 100 LGBT and HIV groups pulled out over ministers’ failure to ban trans conversion therapy (stock image)

It was claimed last week that the Prime Minister had decided to ditch the plan – but Mr Johnson later confirmed that a law banning conversion therapy will indeed be in the Queen’s Speech next month, although it will not cover transgender therapy.

In his letter to the PM, Mr Anderson said serving as the UK’s first LGBT business champion had been ‘the greatest privilege of my life’ – but he felt he had ‘no choice’ but to resign. Learning that trans people ‘would be excluded from the legislation and therefore not have the same immediate protections’ was ‘deeply damaging to my work’, he wrote.

Mr Anderson added that it was ‘profoundly shocking’ that the Government had apparently backtracked on protection for transgender people in the same week that Jamie Wallis became the country’s first MP to come out as transgender.

Mr Wallis, who will continue using he/him pronouns ‘for the time being’, has said it would be a ‘broken promise’ to ban gay – but not trans – conversion therapy. 

The MP for Bridgend, who revealed on Twitter that he had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, said it would be ‘wrong to exclude protections for a whole group of people’.

A government spokesman said last night: ‘We thank Iain for his contributions as LGBT business champion. The Government has a proud record on LGBT rights and we remain committed to building upon that work with sensitivity and care.’

It was claimed last week that the Prime Minister had decided to ditch the plan – but Mr Johnson later confirmed that a law banning conversion therapy will indeed be in the Queen’s Speech next month, although it will not cover transgender therapy 

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