Critical gender campaigners have warned Sir Keir Starmer that Labor plans to ban trans conversion therapy risk “criminalizing” parents opposed to their child’s transition.

More than 140 people, including peers, MPs, doctors and psychotherapists, have signed an open letter to the Prime Minister with “serious concerns about the government’s plan to resurrect a ban originally proposed by the Conservatives”.

Among them, Labor MP Graham Stringer and Dr David Bell, former governor of the Tavistock Centre, which was closed earlier this year after treating more than 1,000 children.

Labor used the July King’s Speech to propose a Conversion Practices Bill, which would block any action to “change, ‘cure’ or remove” a person’s sexuality or gender identification.

The letter, first reported in the Sunday Telegraph, said professionals had pledged to “stop working with children suffering from gender dysphoria altogether, for fear of being criminalized”, adding that “a slippery slope towards the criminalization of parents awaits us.”

More than 140 people, including peers, MPs, doctors and psychotherapists, signed an open letter to the Prime Minister with “serious concerns about the government’s plan to resurrect a ban initially proposed by the Conservatives”.

The reforms, which will be overseen by equalities minister Annaliese Dodds, have been backed by campaigners because they help people to “freely explore their sexual orientation and gender identity”.

Letter Day professionals pledged to “completely stop working with children suffering from gender dysphoria, for fear of being criminalized,” adding that “a slippery slope toward the criminalization of parents awaits us.”

A ban on conversion therapy, which aims to remove or change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, was first promised in 2018 by former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May.

It was later downgraded under Boris Johnson to not include transgender people, but Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government said in January 2023 it would ban conversion therapy for “everyone”, including people transgender.

That hasn’t happened, with conservatives saying legislation around such practices “is a very complex issue, with existing criminal law already providing strong protections.”

But it was revived by Labor in the summer after their election victory.

The reforms, which will be overseen by equalities minister Annaliese Dodds, have been backed by campaigners because they help people to “freely explore their sexual orientation and gender identity”.

But critics have raised concerns that lesbian and autistic girls may be encouraged too soon to seek inappropriate surgery.

The letter, organized by campaigner James Esses, noted: “Whistleblowers in this area have been vindicated by recent events, such as the final report of the independent Cass Review, the NHS decision to stop prescribing of puberty inhibitors, closure of the GIDS. gender clinic in Tavistock and the revelations contained in the WPATH files, among others.

“Many confused and vulnerable children who medically transitioned with the help of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones suffered irreversible developmental problems, physiological damage (such as loss of bone density, infertility and sexual dysfunction). ) and significant social and relational harm. Most at risk are children who do not conform to traditional gender stereotypes.