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

Debate contribution by Mrs Pam Cameron on 22 September 2026.

MLA: Mrs Pam Cameron
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 22 September 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5741115

Text

I thank the Bill sponsor for his intervention. I will continue my remarks. Instead, the Bill takes concepts that are already addressed in law and lowers important thresholds and surrounds them with vague, subjective and undefined terminology — and we have heard so much undefined terminology this evening. I know that, for many Members who support the Bill, abuse of such a nature is the driving force behind their position, and that is understandable. However, it is wrong to frame it as a debate between those who oppose harmful practices and those who want them to continue unabated. To any gay or trans person out there who has been abused, I say this: the law is already on your side. I encourage any person who has faced that type of abuse to reach out to the police. You will get support to end the abuse and to seek justice. Abuse and coercion are already tackled under our current laws. We have heard much reference to the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act, which covers the relationship between parents and children. We have the Children and Young Persons Act, which requires intervention where a child may come to harm. There are laws against threatening or abusive words or behaviour, and there will be more laws, too. For anyone to give the impression that gay and trans people are not already protected by our current laws — the same laws that protect every citizen — and that nothing can be done about vile abuse that is directed towards individuals, is inaccurate and irresponsible.
I have no doubt that more work can be done on victim support. I also have no doubt that too many individuals face varying degrees of unacceptable abuse every day, but there are laws in place, and they are used. I have yet to be shown evidence of a genuine gap in the law that needs to be plugged. We hear stories that appeal to our compassion, and they absolutely do appeal to our compassion, but we have not heard a clear, worked-through case study of some appalling abuse that somehow falls outside our existing law.
I will.

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

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