More than 100,000 people have signed an online petition calling for "conversion therapy" - aimed at changing a person's sexuality - to be made illegal.
It will now be considered for a debate in Parliament, having gained the required support, two years after the government pledged to ban the
practice.
And the charity Stonewall has urged the government to "urgently" publish its plans to "end these harmful practices".
The government said it will "consider all options for ending the practice".
It added that certain "abhorrent and violent practices which may be classed as conversion therapy, such as 'corrective' rape" were already covered by existing criminal offences.
"Conversion therapy" refers to any form of treatment or psychotherapy which aims to change a person's sexual orientation or to suppress a person's gender identity.
Germany passes ban on 'gay conversion therapy'
'Gay conversion therapy' to be banned
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has tabled an early day [...]
Who are the BBC? The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over
What is ConversionTherapy? Conversion therapy is the practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual using psychological, physical, or spiritual interventions. There is no reliable evidence that sexual orientation can be changed and medical institutions warn that
conversion therapy practices are ineffective and potentially harmful. Medical, scientific, and government organizations in the United States and United Kingdom have expressed concern over the validity, efficacy and ethics of conversion therapy. Various jurisdictions around the world have passed laws against conversion therapy.
<br><br>
Conversion therapy advocates argue they respect any individuals who identify as 'gay' and do not seek change. But any person wishing to voluntarily receive support, guidance and explore changing sexual orientation should be free to do so.
What is Homosexual? Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between members of the same gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to people of the same sex. It also refers to a person's sense of identity
based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions.
What is LGBT? LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which was used to replace the term gay in reference to the LGBT community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s. Activists believed that the term gay community did not
accurately represent all those to whom it referred. The initialism has become adopted into the mainstream media as an umbrella term for use when labeling topics pertaining to sexuality and gender identity.
DISCLAIMER
All news articles are shared for educational purposes only. The news content is hosted on the external news website. News articles titles are derived from the original news title, news content, dialogue, speech or general content theme. The news title may be edited and optimized for SEO, keyword density, information and internal website search purposes. You are advised to view the original news article for a better understanding. If you spot any mistakes, errors or omissions kindly contact us.