Telegraph Boss renews campaign to ban ‘gay cure’ therapy in the UK
PinkNews Exclusive
The Executive Director of the Telegraph Media Group Lord Black, has said the NHS agreeing to stop referring patients to ‘gay cure’ therapy is a good first step, but vowed to have the practice banned in the UK.
Despite the NHS not offering gay conversion therapy directly, some patients seeking to change their sexuality have been connected to organisations which do provide it by NHS staff.
Lord Black told PinkNews: “This is a massive step in the right direction and it should be warmly welcomed. But there is more to do. I will continue the campaign to have this insidious ‘treatment’ banned in the UK. ”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder back in 1990, and gay “cure” therapies have been widely condemned by health bodies across the world.
The practice of gay “cure”, or “conversion” therapy is widely criticised as harmful to recipients. At least two states in the US have passed legislation banning the practice on minors.
During the debates on same-sex marriage, Lord Black, who helped lead the campaign in the House of Lords in favour of equality said: “I am in a civil partnership with somebody with whom I have been together for nearly a quarter of a century. I love him very much and nothing would give me greater pride than to marry him.”
UKIP MEP Roger Helmer last year claimed the NHS should fund ‘gay cure’ therapy.
