Five Lessons learned from The Trans Cure?

What feels like hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and dozens of ultra-processed flapjacks later, this investigation is at last skyrocketing towards a close. As stress and exhaustion pique in these final few days before the article arrives next Wednesday, pressure mounts to tell this story right. That stress and exhaustion join excitement and anxiety, in the unbelievable realisation that the release date is finally near.

With so much complex context in this murky grey area of English law, one article is not nearly enough to fully do justice to this story. This has been among the most rewarding stories to investigate during my time as a trainee journalist, and it has raised issues that never even crossed my mind before. Hopefully it will stimulate you in similar ways. Here are five things I wanted you to know.

1. The Journey

Journey may sound like a buzz word, but in this instance it feels essential to get to grips with quite how long this fight has been going on. The conversion therapy ban was first floated by the government in 2017, which LGBT people have been lobbying about for decades. For centuries, gay and trans people have been subjugated and invalidated by people trying to change them, even in times where neither word ever entered the conversation. You notice how integral people are to journalism. In the age of social media, we all obsess over how many likes, clicks and comments a story receives. The articles and posts that received the most traction for this article were those that featured photos of the people at the heart of this narrative, who help us follow this journey from its bitter beginning to its hopeful end.

2. The Goodwill

The LGBT community are one of the strongest, tightest-knit social groups out there. How they manage to stay so strong in the face of such adversary is awe-inspiring, and though instances of hate crime like conversion therapy may stick with them forever, the way they reflect on these experiences is so brave. During these interviews there were tears and a lot of emotion to get to grips with, but many interviewees would come to me and say that they forgave the people who tortured them, who put them through these horrific practices. Whether they were parents or religious groups, there was this presiding notion that practitioners would do what they did out of goodwill, out of some wish to conform with a higher power or expectation. That by no means makes this behaviour excusable, but it was fascinating understanding how these survivors have negotiated with their experiences.

3. The Emotional Blackmail

Conversion therapy is evil. There is no doubt about that. While religion has historically been the main excuse used to justify these practices, that trope tends to relate more to the American Christian camps which gay and lesbian people would be sent to in the states to "cure" their sexuality. Medical conversion therapy is arguably more common nowadays in the UK through talk therapy, where a practitioner will try to link the gender identity or sexuality of a person with some kind of lived trauma, or they will try to talk them out of transitioning through manipulation and, hence the subheading, emotional blackmail. If a ban is to be put in place, there is no argument that this exploratory therapy is wrong, however some faith groups have proposed that even in the case of a ban they should still be allowed to offer support to gender-questioning parishioners, despite this practice being much the same.

4. The Confusion

Everything is up in the air now, so it feels unfortunate that this investigation is coming to a close now just as fresh legislation falls into place. While some parties believe the much-promised draft ban will release early next year, others fear 2026 will be a year less full of hope. For every optimistic interviewee I could find, there was a wave of pessimism from another, and nobody can blame them. The Labour Government promised in September 2024, via The King's State Opening of Parliament, that they would deliver a trans-inclusive ban during their time in power, but patience is running out, and everywhere you look there are complaints about how many promises this government has failed to deliver on.

5. The Grey Areas

These faith groups are far from the only ones seeking a loophole for this proposed ban, as arguments rise about whether those who offer consent will be able to seek these practices. Naturally, conversion therapy is never proven to work, and cure camps are famously often ran by supposed ex-gay and ex-trans people who are trying to suppress who they really are by acting in God's name. Nobody has pursued this area of law because of its complexities, because of arguments that seem difficult to grasp for many when such horrific abuses are taking place behind closed doors. Next week you will discover more about these complexities and arguments, as The Trans Cure? releases on this website on 17th December. I cannot wait to share this with you very soon.