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

Debate contribution by Ms Diane Forsythe on 22 September 2026.

MLA

Ms Diane Forsythe

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 5741481

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Minister, for that. I will go back to the point that we were addressing on what should be in the Bill so that it is not left to the court to interpret grey areas and to lawyers to battle it out in the courtroom. I said that I have been through the private Member's Bill consultation process and that I understand the level of engagement with the Equality Commission and the Human Rights Commission. They highlight and emphasise stuff, but they do not give a critique on how a Bill would stand up in law. As Mr Bradley said, the Bill is not compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. It is not enough just to say that you have consulted those commissions or for Mr Tennyson to give the assurance and therefore claim that it is within section 6 of the Northern Ireland Act and the legislative competence of the Assembly. This draft legislation steps into private and family life, and I am really interested to know the Attorney General's view on its compatibility with articles 7, 8 and 10 of the ECHR and all that Mr Bradley outlined. I strongly believe that the Bill would not stand that test were it to go any further. The Bill sponsor spoke about things being tested in the courts. He tried to justify it as if it were the right thing and that the courts always do the right thing, but they do not. We have all seen injustices happening. You cannot just enact legislation in the belief that it will be defined in the courts, because things can go either way, which is a further injustice. As the Minister said, this is not just about the alleged perpetrators but the potential victims and people who are talking about this. I do a lot of work in this space with victims who are going through the court process and, especially, assisting advocacy organisations that support victims of sexual abuse. I am fully aware of how traumatic it is to go through that process and through the court system, no matter what the situation is. The Bill sponsor should not underestimate the fact that there will be malicious complaints. The Minister talked about the Ashers case, and, while it is not the same thing, when you have loosely defined law, there are litigious people and social media influencers who encourage people to be litigious. I have teenage daughters, and I see the stuff that they are seeing. They are coming to me and saying, "Oh, look, this organisation says this, that or the other". Children are being asked, "Do you know your rights? Do you know you can go to court? We will help you". There is an attempt to create sensationalism. I am really concerned that that leaves a loophole for malicious complaints to be made.

Absolutely. I thank the Member for that. Again, where the legislation is not definitive or prescriptive, the Bill sponsor has mentioned it being tested in the courts. If you do not even have a jury, you are handing the first few cases straight to the judicial system to set case law.

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

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 16:41 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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