UK Conversion Therapy Bill 2026: Christians Warn Parents and Pastors Could Face Prison

A parent who refuses to affirm their child as "trans." A pastor who prays — at their request — with a church member struggling with same-sex desires. Under the Westminster government's draft bill, both could face up to five years in prison. That is the warning British Christians are sounding this week, and on Thursday they took the fight to a live national webinar as MPs and peers began scrutinising the proposals.

The government published its 20-page draft bill at the end of June 2026, promising to ban so-called "conversion practices" in England and Wales and to "fill gaps in the law to protect people from abhorrent abuse." Anyone found guilty of conducting abusive conversion practices could face an unlimited fine, a custodial sentence of up to five years, or both. Equalities Minister Olivia Bailey said "legal loopholes" had "left LGBT+ people vulnerable... which is why we must legislate."

Christians do not dispute that abuse should be illegal — they point out it already is. Their alarm is about what the bill adds on top: a crime, they say, of conversation, prayer, and parenting.

UK Conversion Practices Bill Explained

The draft bill aims to protect LGBT+ people from "physical, sexual, economic and psychological abuse to change who they are." Supporters say such practices are still happening across the UK and causing profound suffering. "No one should ever be told they can't be who they are, or love who they love," said Saba Ali of the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition. "LGBTQ+ identities are beautiful, diverse, and should be celebrated."

But critics across the political spectrum say the drafting is dangerously vague. A detailed policy analysis notes the bill creates no express parental exclusion, no reasonable-parenting qualification, no protection for consensual prayer, and no good-faith pastoral defence. It even creates an offence of encouraging or assisting such a practice abroad — and makes charity trustees and company directors personally liable if they fail to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent an offence by their organisation.

The government insists the threshold is high: explanatory notes equate "serious harm" with actual bodily harm or psychiatric injury, and ministers say the bill does not criminalise beliefs or "explorative conversations." The problem, critics reply, is that those assurances are not in the bill itself. A criminal court applies the words of the act — not ministers' statements.

"Under the proposals, a parent who refuses to affirm their child as 'trans', or a pastor who prays – at their request – with a church member struggling with same-sex desires, could face up to five years in prison." — The Christian Institute

What the Draft Bill Means for Churches

For ordinary church life, the stakes are stark. A youth pastor counselling a teenager, a parent teaching their child what the Bible says about marriage, a minister praying with a congregant who asked for prayer — all could fall within the bill's reach, Christians argue. The Christian Institute, which hosted a joint 45-minute webinar on Thursday with Greater Love and Evangelical Times, calls the threat "obvious": "The freedom to share the Gospel is at stake."

The Joint Committee of MPs and peers now scrutinising the draft bill is seeking evidence from the public, and Christian groups are mobilising supporters to make their opposition count. The message they want the committee to hear is blunt: the bill is "badly drafted" and carries an "immense risk of criminalising parents and churches."

It is a fight about far more than one piece of legislation. If a pastor can be prosecuted for praying with a willing church member, critics ask, what part of pastoral ministry remains clearly legal? If a parent can be prosecuted for a conversation at the kitchen table, what remains of the family?

Stormont Votes to Progress Conversion Practices Bill

The Westminster bill is not the only front. In Northern Ireland, the Assembly has voted 46 to 29 to push forward Eóin Tennyson's Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill to scrutiny by the Committee for Communities. Under those proposals, parents and church leaders could face up to two years in prison if deemed to intend "to change or suppress sexual orientation or gender identity" — which, critics note, could include refusing a child's request for puberty blockers.

Education Minister Paul Givan warned fellow MLAs that the bill's supporters want to criminalise "free speech" they find "offensive," whether spoken by family members, pastors, or members of the public. "Nobody has the right not to be offended in a free and democratic society," he said. "This Bill is profoundly illiberal... and is one that is designed to have a chilling effect."

Two legislatures, two bills, one direction of travel. From Belfast to Westminster, the question is the same: where does protection end and criminalisation of belief begin?

Christians Respond to the Conversion Therapy Ban

What happens next is now in the hands of the scrutiny process. The Joint Committee's call for evidence gives opponents a formal channel — and Christian groups are urging believers across England, Wales, and Scotland to use it before the draft becomes law. The government's own notes promise that legitimate conversations will not be criminalised; campaigners want that promise written into the statute, not left to ministerial assurances.

For Britain's christain parents and pastors, the coming months will decide whether prayer, parenting, and preaching remain free — or become risks measured in years. The webinar ended at lunchtime on Thursday. The fight it was mobilising for is only just beginning, and its outcome will shape what the Church in Britain is allowed to say, teach, and pray for a generation.

For more on faith and public life in Britain, read 'Full-Fat Faith': UK Church Leaders Gather as Gen Z Fuels Five Years of Church Growth and UK Church Fights Street Preaching Ban as 27,000 Sign Petition. See also Latest: Alpha Founder Nicky Gumbel Elected to Church of England Synod and Is the UK Church Revival Real? What the Latest Data Actually Shows.

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