LGBTQ+

Preston held its second pride parade on Saturday  to call for the immediate and complete ban of conversion therapy in the United Kingdom, amid repeated commitments by the British government to do so. The city in North West England hosted its 11th annual pride event since 2012, but the parade across the city centre only started last year. Conversion therapy, or conversion practices, is defined by the UK Parliament as activities with the predetermined purpose and intent of changing a person’s sexual orientation, or changing a person to and from being transgender. According to LGBT rights organisation Stonewall Scotland, conversion therapy often include pseudo-scientific practices such as being asked to ingest “purifying substances”, being prayed over, exorcisms, and other forms of counselling session associated with threats to convince or even coerce an individual to change their sexual identity. “Conversion therapy is a barbaric practice, and every effort should be made to stamp out such a thing,” said Dean Toppings, a student nurse from University of Central Lancashire A government national LGBTQ survey conducted in 2018 found that out of the 108,100 respondents, 7% of all respondents had been offered or underwent conversion therapy. Within transgender respondents, 13% of them have been offered or undergone such practices. In the King’s Speech to the UK Parliament in July, the new British government under the Labour party has renewed its commitment to introducing a draft Conversion Practices Bill that will be brought forward to outlaw conversion therapy nationally. The  Labour Party’s manifesto described conversion therapy as abusive. “Here is no other word for it – so Labour will finally deliver a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices,” it read. Many hope that the transgender community will be included in the eventual bill. “Trans rights are human rights, and we must continue to fight …