Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which opposes same-sex marriage and abortion.
(Charles McQuillan/Getty)
The DUP has tabled an amendment to a motion calling for a conversion therapy ban in Northern Ireland, insisting that religious conversion therapy is perfectly fine.
The motion, set to be debated on Tuesday (20 April), calls on Stormont to “reject the harmful practice widely referred to as conversion therapy” and to “acknowledge the damage this practice causes to the mental health of those who are subjected to it”.
Proposed by Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MLAs Doug Beattie and John Stewart, the motion also calls for the Northern Ireland legislature to acknowledge “that this practice has been widely rejected by medical professionals”, and urges the “Minister for Communities to commit to bringing forward legislation before the end of the current Assembly mandate to ban conversion therapy in all its forms”.