Category: Conversion Therapy
-
Only six of the 30 people interviewed for a UK Government-commissioned study of conversion therapy identified as transgender or non-binary, limiting the conclusions that could be drawn about gender-identity change efforts.
For a qualitative study commissioned by the UK Government and published in 2021, researchers interviewed 30 people about their experiences of conversion therapy. Six interviewees (20%) identified as transgender or non-binary, while 24 did not.
Of the 30 participants, 24 (80%) reported experiencing sexual-orientation change efforts only, three reported gender-identity change efforts only, and three reported both.
Among the six transgender or non-binary interviewees, four reported being pressured by family members or religious leaders to engage in conversion efforts. All four cases involved religious contexts. The remaining two said psychiatrists had treated their gender identities as symptoms of mental health conditions. The report noted that these psychiatric treatments did not appear to have been specifically designed to change their gender identities.
All participants were self-selected. The report stated that it was not possible to determine how representative the findings were of the wider population of people who had undergone conversion therapy. It also acknowledged that the limited number of transgender participants restricted the generalisations that could be made.
The report concluded that relatively little evidence was available concerning gender-identity change efforts.
Jowett, A., Brady, G., Goodman, S., Pillinger, C., & Bradley, L. (2021). Conversion therapy: An evidence assessment and qualitative study. Government Equalities Office. UK Government report
-
Only four of the 46 studies reviewed by the UK Government focused exclusively on conversion therapy for gender identity, and none focused exclusively on the practice in the UK
The very small number of studies on gender-identity change efforts means that the evidence base is extremely limited.
A 2021 UK Government assessment reviewed 46 studies concerning conversion therapy. Of these, 41 focused exclusively on sexual orientation (89%), four focused exclusively on gender identity (9%), and one examined experiences relating to either sexual orientation or gender identity (2%).
Of the four gender-identity studies, three were conducted in the United States and one was a systematic review of international evidence. The assessment found no study focusing exclusively on conversion therapy for gender identity in the UK.
The accompanying Government-commissioned review found that conversion therapy appeared to occur most commonly in religious settings and that exposure was consistently associated with holding certain conservative religious beliefs. It also cautioned that most of the research originated in North America and might not reflect how conversion therapy operates elsewhere. Given the importance of religious context, the direct applicability of predominantly US evidence to UK policy should not simply be assumed.
The systematic review was itself limited by the scarcity of available research. The Government assessment also found little UK evidence concerning the nature, frequency, duration or characteristics of practices described as conversion therapy for gender identity, or people’s subsequent experiences.
The evidence available to inform UK policy specifically on gender-identity change efforts is therefore extremely limited and heavily reliant on US research.
Government Equalities Office. (2021). An assessment of the evidence on conversion therapy for sexual orientation and gender identity. UK Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/an-assessment-of-the-evidence-on-conversion-therapy-for-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity/
Jowett, A., Brady, G., Goodman, S., Pillinger, C., & Bradley, L. (2021). Conversion therapy: An evidence assessment and qualitative study. Government Equalities Office. UK Government report