Leaders from public life, academia and faith came together to discuss the UK government’s proposed ban on conversion practices at Oriel’s annual lecture on sex and gender identities in diverse societies.

The new Labour government confirmed its manifesto commitment to ban conversion practices in its inaugural King’s Speech in September. The practices are legal in the UK despite repeated promises by successive governments to legislate a prohibition.

At the start of the event, a video message specially recorded by Anneliese Dodds, the Minister for Woman and Equalities and MP for Oxford East, was played to the audience. In the video, the Labour politician reaffirmed the government’s commitment to a conversion practices ban. She also pledged to “improve the lives of LGBT+ in our country and internationally, restoring the UK’s reputation as a beacon of fairness and equality on the world stage”.

Chaired by Oxford University Chief Diversity Officer Professor Tim Soutphommasane, speakers including prominent LGBT+ rights campaigner Jayne Ozanne, Professor Ilias Trispiotis from the University of Leeds and UCL’s Professor Phillip Ayoub discussed different aspects of the proposed ban.

Starting, Trispiotis proposed that governments have a legal as well as moral to ban conversion practices. He argued that all practices aimed at changing or suppressing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, because it is not perceived as desirable, fall within the scope of the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

Ozanne then spoke about the political context of the proposed ban in the UK and her own experience as a gay evangelical Anglican who “voluntarily” consented to undergo conversion practices. She expressed optimism about the incumbent government and said that she expects to see a draft bill “very shortly”, given there is now political will to bring forward the legislation. In addition, she suggested that the delays to introducing a ban have been “driven more by ideology than by fact”.

After Ozanne, Ayoub discussed the transnational networks contributing to the erosion of LGBT+ rights globally. Transnational tools have been associated, historically, with rights promotion in political science. Ayoub explained how they are being utilised by geographically disparate groups to resist LGBT+ rights.

David N Lyon, a philanthropist focused on LGBT+ causes and the event’s sponsor, has previously said that he hopes the contributions from the event will “assist and inform” the government as it brings forward a legislative ban on conversion practices.

Oriel’s Provost, Lord Mendoza CBE, also commented, saying that educational institutions have a “specific responsibility to create environments for constructive dialogue”. Oriel, he added, “has a strong teaching and research base in politics and theology so we are well placed to facilitate the discussion in this important area”.