The topic of conversion therapy has been brought up again on popular parent site Mumsnet. A thread was created on the site following the YouGov poll which highlighted that most Britons want conversion therapy banned for good. While 23% are unsure, more than 60% of the population who took part in the survey believe that conversion therapy should be banned concerning a person's sexuality and gender identity.
Users in their droves took to the thread to voice their opinion citing concerns about puberty blockers and "the trans lobby".
One user said: "I'm completely in the dark on this one. The trans lobby always characterises this therapy as electrical shocks administered by a Bible-wielding madman. At the other extreme I keep hearing that it's more along the lines of making sure confused kids at least talk the options through before leaping straight to surgical and/or chemical neutering. what's the truth of it?"
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Another user added: "Many people see conversion therapy as a type of brainwashing. If they knew that talking with a therapist falls under it then I think they would say that was a good thing and not be banned. Words and their definitions really do matter, which is why this movement is deliberately messing around with meanings."
Despite several case studies coming forward showcasing just how damaging conversion therapy can be, the UK Government is still treating gender and sexual conversion therapy differently. WalesOnline spoke to conversion therapy survivor, John Sam Jones, who endured conversion therapy in an effort to 'cure' his homosexuality.
"I was wired up to a wristband that was attached to an electricity source," he says. "I was shown homosexual pornography and when my penis responded, I was given electric shocks to the wristband."
The procedure was administered by a doctor and two nurses. John was naked from the waist down as they monitored his response to the pornography. He felt like "some kind of laboratory rat".
John recalls being jolted about 15 to 20 times in each of the sessions, which lasted an hour to 90 minutes. He went through the excruciating therapy every day for about five weeks. More on John's story can be read here.
A comment on Mumsnet said children should be left out of the ban: "With children the situation is far more complicated. Children can’t transition. They are incredibly vulnerable to peer pressure and to forms of social contagion. If they approach a therapist demanding to be ‘affirmed’ in a new identity, that could not only be harmful, but grossly negligent. So I believe children should be left out of the ban."
