Conversion practices are in the news again, at least if you listen to the BBC. We woke up to the Today programme on Friday* recounting appalling stories of Electric Shock Aversion Therapy (ESAT) from years past. Further instalments were delivered on the corporation’s Six O’Clock News.
The Scottish government is once again champing at the bit to satisfy the LGBTQI+ lobby. Holyrood’s grandiose plans for sex self-ID might finally have hit the buffers, but the voters need to keep a close eye on what is coming in its wake.
Twelve years ago, I was a happily married, middle-aged man with a good job and three wonderful children. But something was wrong. I had convinced myself that I had been born into the wrong sex.
After years of crushing anxiety and even moments of physical self-harming caused by this understanding, I transitioned in 2012 and underwent gender reassignment surgery four years later.
The clock is ticking on a bill to ban conversion therapy, at least for this year. Let’s hope that time runs out before it becomes law.
Debbie Hayton