Northern Ireland’s proposed conversion-practices ban has come under renewed pressure after a consultation found that 93.55% of respondents opposed the measure, according to results published by the Assembly’s Committee for Communities. Forty-two of the 55 organisations that responded also opposed the bill.
The Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill was introduced by Alliance MLA Eóin Tennyson on June 30. It would create offences covering the provision of conversion therapy, coercive behaviour intended to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and removing someone from Northern Ireland for conversion practices.
The consultation ran from July 9 until Oct. 1, with the committee seeking evidence from the public and stakeholder organisations. Assembly research records 1,379 responses to the committee exercise, while the bill’s earlier sponsor-led consultation received 1,291 responses between December 2024 and March 2025. The Assembly’s Research and Information Service bill paper notes that the proposal has been shaped by those consultations and by engagement with faith groups, LGBTQIA+ organisations, academics, health bodies, prosecutors and police.
Opposition has focused partly on the bill’s breadth. DUP MLA Peter Martin, who voted against the bill at Second Stage, described it in a social-media statement as “frankly dangerous” and said the consultation result meant it was “surely now dead in the water.” Critics have argued that wording covering attempts to “change or suppress” identity could reach prayer, pastoral counselling or teaching about sex and gender, although supporters say the bill is aimed at harmful and coercive conduct rather than ordinary religious expression.
Tennyson’s explanatory memorandum says the bill includes safeguards requiring harm to an individual and a defence based on reasonableness. Evidence given to the Communities Committee stated that non-directive prayer would not be an offence, while conduct such as coercive or exorcism-like practices could fall within the proposed offences. The maximum prison sentence originally considered during consultation was reduced from seven years to two years in the bill introduced to the Assembly.
The proposal cleared its most significant legislative hurdle so far on Sept. 28, when MLAs voted 46-29 to pass Second Stage, with 15 members abstaining. Unionist parties opposed it, while Alliance, Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party supported the measure. The Assembly’s bill tracker lists Committee Stage as in progress.
The consultation figures do not themselves stop the bill, but they will form part of the Communities Committee’s detailed scrutiny before it reports to the Assembly. The committee has not announced that the bill has been withdrawn, leaving supporters and opponents to continue making their case as the legislative process proceeds.