(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Boris Johnson has dropped a plan to ban so-called conversion therapies for transgender people, ITV News reported, citing a leaked government briefing paper.
ITV had earlier reported that the therapies would also be allowed continue for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people but Johnson reversed course on that within hours after a backlash from Conservative lawmakers.
Justifications for the original plan include the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis, according to the document. The move goes back on years of promises. The government will review existing laws and explore other measures instead, a spokesperson told the TV station.
The discredited practice, also referred to as reparative therapy or sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts, is aimed at attempting to convert individuals to be heterosexual or cisgender, or both. A national poll of Britain's LGBTQ community in 2017 found that 2% of respondents had undergone the therapies and 5% of respondents had been offered them.
The decision comes less than a year after Johnson's legislative program said the ban would form part of a move “to prevent these abhorrent practices which can cause mental and physical harm.”
Equalities Minister Liz Truss, who helped design the ban, had not yet been told of the decision, ITV reported.
Stonewall, a LGBTQ rights charity based in the U.K., said on Twitter that, “it's devastating to hear that the U.K. government is again breaking its promise to our communities, walking away from its commitment to end conversion therapy.”
The news comes a day after Johnson praised the bravery of Jamie Wallis, the first British Member of Parliament to publicly identify as transgender.
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