Debate contribution: Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mr Jonathan Buckley on .
- MLA
- Mr Jonathan Buckley
- 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 5741338
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for giving way. We do not make light of the circumstances that anybody finds themselves in. However, it would be remiss — in fact, it would be negligent — if Members did not highlight some of the issues that are part of real, live debate. The interesting part is that we are clear on gender, male and female; it is the Bill's sponsor and those who are advocates of his Bill who, perhaps, stretch the boundaries of reality. The Bill's sponsor, I believe, made light of those suffering from certain circumstances when he said that he did not consult DAERA. By his own standards, that is highly derogatory. The Member is right — Mr Frew hit on it — that, where we see it defined that it is what the victim considers their gender identity to be, it is right that we look to what, certain gender ideologies and those who pursue them say, constitutes "gender identity". The list is endless. There can be dozens, as Mr Kingston said, or, as I have seen, it can be up to 136. It is said, for example, that "xenogender" means gender identities that are described through concepts outside conventional masculinity and femininity such as animals, stars, colours, textures, shapes or sounds. The Member is trying to identify and establish what protections there would be for parents who find themselves in a position where their child identifies as an animal, a star, a colour, a texture or a shape. I wish that I did not have to say that in the debate, but it is incumbent on me to do so in order to define the remit of the Bill, and we are not clear on that concept.
289 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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