Debate contribution: Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Ms Emma Sheerin on 15 September 2026.

MLA: Ms Emma Sheerin
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 15 September 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5706813

Text

I appreciate the Member's being so generous with his time. I am not a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but I am proud to say that I am an ally, so I know how that community feels about your party. You have proven it time and again. In an attempt to trivialise a conversation between a child and their parent about their sexual orientation or gender identity, you made a childish remark comparing that conversation to denying your children Lucozade because it is bad for their teeth. There are people watching this who belong to a community that has been discriminated against for generations and dehumanised time and time again. If you want to make jokes, go ahead, but what you are doing is disgusting. The record of it is there.
Will the Member give way?

136 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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