Put The Fear

It has taken them since the Cameron Government, via the ferocious support of Theresa May and of Boris Johnson, but they have got round to it, as Janet Eastham, Amy Gibbons and Daniel Martin write:

Labour’s controversial new trans law risks criminalising prayer, the Church of England has warned. The Anglican Church said the legislation must not “unintentionally criminalise” providing prayer and pastoral support, and that it must allow for discussion and disagreement. A spokesman told The Telegraph that Church leaders would raise these concerns with MPs and peers scrutinising the draft Conversion Practices Bill. Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church have also voiced concerns about the bill and called for it to be abandoned.

The legislation threatens people with five years in prison for trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill would cover parents, meaning mothers and fathers risk arrest for asking their child whether they really want to change gender. The Telegraph has launched a campaign for the proposed legislation to be scrapped amid warnings that it would have a chilling effect on family relationships. Opponents have said the bill could also apply to prayer. The warning from the Church will be seen as a blow by ministers who have touted the Church’s support for the controversial law. On Friday, Cabinet Office officials told The Telegraph that there was “support for our draft bill from the Church of England” and cited an earlier endorsement from the Bishop of Manchester.

However, in a statement, a spokesman for the Church of England said: “We believe that everyone is made in the image of God and should be cherished for who they are. In 2017, the General Synod voted overwhelmingly to call on the Government to bring forward a ban on conversion therapy with respect to sexual orientation, which has since been echoed by senior leaders. It is, however, important to ensure that any legislation does not unintentionally criminalise providing appropriate prayer and pastoral care to those who seek it, and we will reflect this concern in our evidence to the pre-legislative scrutiny process. Of course, pastoral care and prayer should never be coercive. A ban on conversion therapy must still allow space for discussion and disagreement. We want to prevent abuses of power and coercive practices, which should be the focus of any legislation.”

Parents and religious leaders ‘at risk of criminalisation’

The vote at General Synod – the Church’s legislative body – was passed before the proposed law was expanded to include attempts to change someone’s gender identity. Ministers insist the legislation is needed to close loopholes that leave gay and transgender people vulnerable to abuse, while setting “high bars which protect freedom of expression”, including for religious leaders. However, opponents argue that abusive practices such as assault, threats and harassment are already illegal, and warn that the new offence could criminalise concerned parents, as well as therapists and religious leaders providing pastoral care.

Leaders from the Catholic Church have also revealed they oppose the bill. John Sherrington, the Archbishop of Liverpool and the chairman of the department of social justice of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said that the bishops “recognise that it is important for governments to use appropriate legislation to protect people from abuse”. But he added that they believe “current legislation already covers such abusive practices and makes them illegal”.

He said: “There is a danger that this legislation will create uncertainty around lawful pastoral care by the Church, family life and the legality of open conversations that might take place in a range of social settings. There are clearly a range of scenarios under this proposed legislation in which legal action of various types may be taken against individuals or organisations, including parents of children who express well-informed opinions and make well-intentioned statements. We are concerned that this legislation will challenge the Church’s ability to fulfil its calling to proclaim an authentic understanding of the human person with clarity, simplicity, love and respect. People of faith must remain free to express their beliefs through speech and prayer. We call on politicians to abandon this bill and focus instead on enforcement of existing protections and accessible support for anyone facing abuse or coercion.”

Law’s ‘overreach into normal family life’

Bishop Brian McGee, the vice-president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, echoed these concerns, telling The Telegraph: “Nobody should fear violence, abuse, or coercion, and the law must do all it can to make sure everybody is protected from such behaviour. This law, however, appears to go far beyond the protection of citizens, overreaching into normal daily family life, pastoral conversations and everyday teaching.”

Some religious figures told The Telegraph they feared that liberal campaigners would use the law to silence people with more traditional views on issues such as marriage and gender. Simon Calvert, the deputy director of the charity The Christian Institute, said it was “quite clear” that the legislation could “criminalise parents praying for their children”. He told The Telegraph: “It is a bizarre new approach to the criminal law which makes all kinds of legitimate speech vulnerable to police investigation. Lawyers are lining up to condemn the way it’s drafted. And the activists the Government are trying to placate are quite open that they really do want the law to ‘put the fear’ into parents over their family prayers.”

Mr Calvert added: “Elizabeth I famously declined to make windows into men’s souls. This bill makes a window and will force police, prosecutors and courts to peer through it to decide if your intentions, your beliefs, mean your conversation with your gay or trans friend was a criminal offence.”

On Monday, MPs scrutinising the draft bill were told that it should include a ban on prayers aimed at changing someone’s gender identity or sexuality. Giving evidence to the bill committee, Jayne Ozanne, a gay evangelical Christian and the founder of the Ban Conversion Practices Coalition, insisted the practice should be illegal. Asked whether such prayers should be criminalised, including in a family setting, she said: “I think we need to be clear about what is wrong and right. Stealing is stealing. Whether you steal a sweet or a car, it is still stealing.”

Ms Ozanne, who said she had been traumatised by people praying for her to be straight, said the issue lay with “the impact on the individual in front of you”. She added: “A lot of prayer will be directed – somebody will have their hand on you and pray. It is the fact that they are trying to pray for you to be changed to a thing that they think you ought to be as opposed to praying for you to find a point of peace. You might say that that is too subtle a difference, but they are worlds apart. Helping me come to a place where I know who I ought to be is very different from telling me that I have to be straight.”

A Government spokesman said: “Our draft bill would outlaw a specific form of abuse, setting high bars which protect freedom of expression, including for religious leaders, while ensuring no one is free to commit abuse. LGBT+ people should never, without exception, have to suffer coercion or abuse in an effort to change who they are. Successive governments have agreed for almost a decade that conversion practices have no place in modern Britain. This Government is clear that freedom of belief, whether faith-based or wider, will be respected by the ban, while our draft bill has already been welcomed by religious groups.”