Bishops in the House of Lords to speak in debate on conversion therapy ban

The Bishop of Bristol, Vivienne Faull, and the Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson, are among those due to speak in the debate on the second reading of the Conversion Therapy Prohibition (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) Bill, brought by Baroness Burt of Solihull.

The Church of England had formally supported a ban on conversion therapy since a General Synod motion agreed in July 2017 and has contributed to a recent Government consultation on proposals.

A briefing and reflections document on Conversion Therapy from the Church of England is now available.

The paper, commissioned as part of the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith work examining questions of identity, sexuality and gender is published at the request of the House of Bishops.

It was produced by a working group which included theologians, church leaders from different traditions and a safeguarding professional and discussed with LGBTQ+ people with diverse theological views.

The Bishop of Bristol (11:35:16 -11:39:00) and the Bishop of Guildford’s (13:29:00-13:34:07) contributions to the debate in the House of Lords can be found here.