Mick Hartley

Here we go again. Times headline – Labour will ban conversion therapy despite ‘test case’ fears:

Labour will introduce a full ban on conversion “therapy” if it wins the election, despite warnings that doing so may encroach on the freedom of parents and therapists to talk to children about gender identity issues.

Sir Keir Starmer has committed his party to a ban on the practice, which aims to suppress a person’s sexuality or gender identity. Labour says that this amounts to abuse.

However, Hilary Cass, the doctor who carried out the landmark review of gender services for children, said that a trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban was likely to prompt concern among medical professionals that they might find themselves in a “test case”.

She said that although she supported banning conversion therapy, a practice she described as “dreadful”, she was concerned that it would not be possible to “bulletproof” the legislation.

The conversion therapy Cass describes as "dreadful" is the old-style attempt to "cure" homosexuality – something which just doesn't happen here any more outside the wilder religious fringes. Including gender identity "conversion" though is a whole different ball game, since gender identity is a construct of trans ideology picked up by troubled kids on social media. If left alone to go through puberty drug-free, these kids would almost invariably be fine. We've been through this so many times. These kids, victims of a social contagion, need therapy and time to think rather than immediate affirmation of their ridiculous fantasy that they can change sex and live happily ever after.

In a nutshell: some kids are gay, but no kids are trans. 

If this is really what Labour is planning – and to be honest the whole article is confused – then this is a horribly misconceived path to go down.