Across the pond...

Up until this week, this investigation into trans conversion therapy has admittedly been highly Eurocentric. To understand where the bill sits, a significant amount of research naturally needs to go into the global debate and those countries that have already introduced some kind of conversion therapy ban, whether partial or total. However, the UK has been at the centre of this study so far for good reason: so many in the LGBTQ+ community believe not enough has been done, either by the late Conservative government or the current Labour administration.

This week, I looked across the pond when I spoke to Jack Hanson, a clinical researcher with a special interest in the overlap between science and sexuality. Like many of my interviewees, Jack proposed that historic conversion therapy victims should be given reparations. However, they were quick to point that this seems improbable under the Trump administration in the US. Homosexuality was considered an illness until 1973 and having a different gender identity to the one you were born with counted as a disorder before 2013. As for reparations, not even black Americans were compensated for centuries of slavery.

What surprised me most talking about Jack was the undercurrent of positivity despite times being particularly fraught for trans people over in the US. I have heard stories of trans people being stopped on the borders and having their passports scrutinised simply for not being cisgender. The importance of scientific development was one element that Jack was very keen to shout from the rooftops about.

They said: “Scientists need to take a political stance, and by this I do not mean bias should inform science. It is reasonable to say science does not have policies, or inform decision making. When scientists hear the term political, they shy away, but we need that research so we can be more outspoken.

"The moment you give up hope then there is nothing," they added. "Our community, particularly in the area of science, has persevered despite an authoritarian regime, and that in itself is something we can be hopeful about."

Because of the courts being highly conservative, Jack emphasised that the likelihood of anything changing for laws around conversion therapy in the states to be low in the short term. This form of conversion therapy, often known as gender reparative therapy, is one that many seem to find easier to ignore. Yesterday, we entered Transgender Awareness Week, meaning there are no better times to shine a light on what is really happening in the corners where nobody thinks to look.