Stirling students have spoken out against conversion therapy, calling for it to be banned across the UK.
The move follows a motion being passed at the Union General Meeting on Thursday (April 8) which condemned the practice, which involves any form of treatment or psychotherapy which aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or to suppress a person’s gender identity.
This union will now actively oppose conversion therapy, call for it to be banned and will exclude any organisations that support the practice from attending union events.
Stirling Students’ Union will now actively support campaigns against conversion therapy and join the End Conversion Therapy Scotland Campaign.
VP Communities Josh Muirhead, who proposed the motion, condemned conversion therapy describing it as “nothing short of legalised torture.”
“Conversion therapy is an absolute blight on society.
“A lot of people believe that is just an issue in America and Canada but it is still legal in the UK.
“By outlawing this we can defeat a major obstacle for LGBT+ equality.”
“Conversion therapy is nothing short of legalised torture for those subjected to it.”
Vice President Communities Joshua Muirhead – Stirling Students’ Union
Seconding the motion was LGBT+ Officer Avar Wilson, who described the practice as “a very serious issue” and called on students to “actively oppose conversion therapy until it is made illegal.”
Both Wilson and Muirhead spoke that conversion therapy is anti-LGBT+ to it’s core and did not align with the union’s principles and values.
No one at the GM spoke to oppose the motion.
The NHS and all major therapy bodies in the UK actively oppose conversion therapy and have rejected it, describing the practice as dangerous.
The UK Government vowed to ban conversion therapy in 2018 but has yet to take any action. In July 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has described it as “absolutely abhorrent” and said, “it has no place in civilised society and no place in this country.”
The PM added that the government would study where conversion therapy was being practiced in the UK draft plans to ban it.
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