Debate contribution: Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mrs Sinéad Ennis on .
- MLA
- Mrs Sinéad Ennis
- 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 5706969
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Before I get into my remarks, I will address some of what I deem to be the deliberate campaign of scaremongering that is being waged by the DUP and every one of its MLAs who has spoken in the debate so far. What we are hearing can be described only as weaponised incompetence and wilful misunderstanding of the Bill. The Bill is not proposing to criminalise loving parents who are giving advice, expressing concern or having conversations with their children. To suggest otherwise is to mislead parents about the purpose of the Bill. It is an attempt to scare parents. In typical DUP fashion, it is fear before facts. The DUP has talked a great deal today about parents, but, of course, they are not its main concern. The DUP's main concern is how the Bill would restrict things in a faith-based setting. One would think that it would have learnt by now the harm that is caused when criminal matters are dealt with in-house in faith-based settings and deemed to be nothing more than family matters. It also seems to be hung up on the issue of gender identity. The Bill does not ask anyone to adopt a particular ideological view on gender identity. It does not require Members to agree with every claim that is made about gender. It simply asks whether attempting to force, pressurise or coerce someone into changing or suppressing their identity is wrong. That is the simple question before us today. The Bill also does not legislate to police conversations, sermons or family relationships. Rather, it attempts to draw a line under coercive practice that is aimed at making people suppress or change who they are. That is the simple, core element of the Bill on which we should all be focusing. It will come as no surprise to anybody that I support the Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill at Second Stage. Like others, I am conscious that there are people outside the Chamber, and perhaps inside the Chamber, who have experienced the trauma of being subjected to that kind of pseudo practice, so I want to be as sensitive to that fact as I can. It is hard to know where to start with a concept such as conversion practice or conversion therapy, a concept so obviously morally and ethically wrong that is it indefensible. It is hard for me to get my head around the fact that it is still happening, so I will start with the term "conversion practice" itself, or "conversion therapy", as it is sometimes called. The word "therapy" suggests something that is healing, holistic and restorative, so let us look at the therapeutic effects of attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. In 2018, a UK-wide survey found that over half of those who had experienced attempts to change their sexual orientation suffered subsequent mental health issues and that one in five had attempted suicide. A United Nations expert reported to the UN Human Rights Council that conversion therapy inflicts "severe pain and suffering" on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender-diverse persons, often resulting in "psychological and physical damage" that is "long-lasting". Participants in that discredited practice said that they were made to feel so degraded and ashamed — that their self-loathing became so great as a result of what they were told by the people who delivered that therapy — that they wanted to end their life.
If organisations in this jurisdiction are exposing our citizens to behaviour that is so destructive that it makes them feel as though they want to end their life, the Assembly needs to come down on those organisations — and come down hard. We must use every tool available to us to protect our citizens and to eradicate that practice completely. I make it clear that Sinn Féin unequivocally condemns conversion practices and the harm that they indisputably cause. There is no denying that subjecting someone to that kind of coercive pseudoscience is deeply damaging to the mental health and emotional well-being of the person as well as inherently homophobic. As republicans, we are resolute in our opposition to homophobia and discrimination in all their forms. That is why Sinn Féin supports the bringing forward of legislation to ban conversion practice in every form in which it masks itself. We will engage positively with the Bill and the Bill sponsor, and, of course, we will want, as others will, to ensure that there are no loopholes to allow that malpractice to continue by means of a change of name or definition. It is also important that those affected by conversion practices and those in the wider LGBTQI+ community have their say, and I am heartened to hear the Bill sponsor say that such individuals played a key role in the drafting and shaping of the Bill. Critics will say that there are so many issues that we, as an Executive and an Assembly, must deliver — and there are; there are really big issues that affect all our constituents — and ask why we are talking about this issue tonight. I believe that issues of equality and human rights are equally important topics for the Assembly to champion, because how we treat people and how we protect our citizens — our minority groups — tells the tale of the kind of society that we want to live in and, ultimately, what kind of new Ireland we are building. Right now, it is even more important that we be the standard-bearers for equality and upholding the human rights and the dignity of our people, because it is a depressing reality that human rights and equality are under attack across the globe. Trumpism, fascism and toxic right-wing ideologies are once again on the rise in Governments and societies around the world. We have seen attempts to roll back LGBTQI+ rights, women's rights, racial equality, disability rights, migrant rights, indigenous rights and language rights. It is not happening just in places such as the United States. Nearly a quarter of voters in Europe now back far right parties. How depressing is that? Those parties have made it clear that attacking hard-won LGBTQI rights is their goal. However, we do not need to look beyond the Chamber to find ideologies that are inherently homophobic or those who have always had a hard time with the notion of equality. The toxic mix of heteronormative conservatism and the religious fundamentalism that permeates the DUP is demonstrated by the actions of the Communities Minister, Gordon Lyons, who refuses to support Pride, and has been given voice in the contributions of DUP MLAs who still seek to provide cover for quacks and clerics to continue to damage and harm —
I am nearly finished. — our LGBTQI+ citizens. Quite frankly, that kind of fossilised thinking belongs in the dustbin of history.
I will finish with this.
I am on my feet.
I am on my feet. I have not given way
I am on my feet. Thank you.
All your names are down: you will have plenty of opportunity.
You can speak after me.
There are many eyes and ears on us today. There may be people listening to the debate who are coming to terms with their sexuality. Maybe they do not have the right support system around them. Maybe they are not getting meaningful and appropriate sex education in school that reflects their feelings, their sexual orientation or their gender identity. If you are that person, and you take nothing else from this debate, please know this: you are normal. Homosexuality is normal and natural. You cannot change your sexuality any more than you can change the colour of your skin, and anybody who tells you otherwise is nothing more than a snake oil salesman. No cure is required for being yourself. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people do not need to be fixed, because — here is the bottom line in all of this — they are not broken. Sin é.
1,339 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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