UK bishops warn against Parliament bill that would criminalize counseling on gender identity

British bishops are speaking out against a proposed parliamentary bill that would criminalize counseling designed to help individuals identify with their biological sex rather than an opposite-sex gender. The draft conversion practices bill, introduced earlier this year in Parliament, seeks to fill gaps in criminal law to target conversion practices. While the term was historically defined in relation to homosexual orientation, the new legislation applies the framework to therapeutic services that attempt to steer people away from self-identified gender identities toward objective biological sex.

Concern over pastoral freedom

In a Nov. 10 statement, Liverpool Archbishop John Sherrington, who chairs the social justice department of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, expressed serious concern about the broad scope of the bill. Sherrington noted that while the Catholic Church opposes abusive counseling in all circumstances, current law already outlaws such behavior. He argued that the new bill proposes to extend the legal definition of abusive practices in ways that threaten fundamental rights, including freedom of religion and expression.