TL;DR: So-called 'conversion therapy' groups’ spending in the UK has hugely increased since a ban on the practice was first proposed, data seen exclusively by QueerAF reveals. Some £2 million was dished out on lobbying and promoting the practice in the UK over four years by organisations that advocate for the widely discredited and harmful approach that falsely claims to change or suppress people’s LGBTQIA+ identities.
Groups promoting so-called 'conversion therapy' in the UK increased their spending by 165% between 2019 and 2023, according to new research - Amnesty International
QueerAF can now reveal that the groups spent some £2M in the years after the ban was first announced, in efforts to lobby the government and increase resources on delivering what successive governments have called a “cruel” and “abusive” approach.
The pseudoscientific practice, which falsely claims it can change or suppress a person’s LGBTQIA+ identity, is still legal in the UK – with millions of people at risk of being forced to undergo harmful and discredited practices. As many as 1 in 5 LGBTQIA+ people have experienced the practice, which in some cases can amount to a form of torture.
The data QueerAF has seen is part of a wider increase in spending by anti-human rights actors in the UK, tracked by Amnesty International. They uncovered how 65 groups spent £106 million on activities to strip human rights protections in the UK in just four years – the same amount that the government is spending to upgrade public sports facilities across the whole UK.
This growing network of anti-abortion groups, Christian right groups, so-called ‘conversion therapy’ organisations and UK branches of US-based organisations are working to roll back human rights, the research found. Overall, their spending increased by more than a third between 2019 and 2023.
Significantly, of all the organisations tracked over four years, so-called 'conversion therapy' groups had the largest increase in spending by far, in a period when successive governments have promised to ban the practice.
Amnesty International identified 12 groups, established between 2014 and 2023, that are operating in the UK with a sole focus on promoting so-called 'conversion therapy'.
These groups provide training, books and other resources, networking opportunities, peer support and retreats for so-called ‘therapists’ who aim to change or suppress a person’s sexuality or gender identity. Some of them have also lobbied the government and regulatory bodies to prevent the promised ban on these practices.
What does the data tell us about ‘conversion therapy’ groups’ activities?
Research into the finances of four of these so-called 'conversion therapy' groups, seen exclusively by QueerAF, reveals that Journey UK, True Freedom Trust, Affinity and Core Issues Trust – all registered charities – spent nearly £2 million between 2019 and 2023. For context, that’s the same amount of money that the government estimates it would cost to introduce the option of ‘X’ gender markers on British passports - House of Commons Library
In 2019, these four groups spent £197,901 between them. By 2023, this spending had more than doubled, to £523,632.
Core Issues Trust (CIT) is a high-profile Christian fundamentalist organisation that ran adverts on London Buses in 2012 stating “Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get over it!", which were banned by Boris Johnson during his tenure as London’s mayor.
CIT’s bank accounts were shut down by Barclays in 2020 after pressure from LGBTQIA+ activists – and remained shut despite a 70,000-strong petition in support of the group. Amnesty International’s research reveals that over the next three years, CIT, whose website states that “sexual relationships outside of marriage between a man and a woman fall short of the will of God”, spent £599,376 on “challenging gender confusion”.
In 2021, it was revealed that CIT had a private meeting with officials from the Government Equalities Office, after communicating with then-Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch. CIT said it had “spent years” trying to speak to the UK government about how they “help people who want to move away from unwanted homosexual feelings” - VICE World News
Chiara Capraro, Gender Justice Programme Director at Amnesty International, told QueerAF that so-called 'conversion therapy' is “inhumane, degrading and can constitute torture”.
“Our findings highlight a worrying trend in the growth of organisations promoting these cruel and abusive practices across the UK. The money these groups are spending is soaring at an alarming rate,” she said.
“This comes as part of a much broader and growing attack on LGBTQIA+ rights in the UK.”
What is so-called 'conversion therapy'?
So-called 'conversion therapy' practices are “any intervention that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity” with the goal of ‘curing’ someone from being LGBTQIA+ - Stonewall
These practices include pseudo-scientific counselling sessions, being induced to ingest ‘purifying’ substances, threatening a person with homelessness, ‘corrective’ rape, being prayed over as a form of ‘healing’, and exorcisms.
The government and NHS do not collect official data on the number of LGBTQIA+ people in the UK who’ve been subjected to so-called 'conversion therapy' practices. But surveys show that nearly one in five LGBTQIA+ people have experienced attempts to change, ‘cure’ or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity - Galop
Trans and nonbinary people are subjected to higher rates of so-called 'conversion therapy' practices, with more than two in five trans people reporting being subjected to this abuse - Galop
Dozens of health, mental health and psychotherapy organisations and charities in the UK, including NHS England, and as well as international bodies including the UN, have described so-called 'conversion therapy' as “unethical and potentially harmful”. In the 2024 King’s Speech, the government called so-called 'conversion therapy' practices “abuse” that have “no place in society and must be stopped”.
Analysis: Funding revelations raise question of why successive UK governments haven’t banned so-called 'conversion therapy'
The revelations about just how much money is being spent on promoting so-called ‘conversion therapy’ in the UK come seven years after Theresa May became the first British Prime Minister to vow to end the practice – but she was not the last.
Since May’s 2018 announcement, prime ministers Boris Johnson (“it’s abhorrent”) and Keir Starmer (Labour is “100% against” conversion practices) have also promised to outlaw the damaging so-called ‘therapies’ - Stonewall
This week marks a year since Starmer’s new Labour government promised to implement a trans-inclusive ban in the 2024 King’s Speech. Labour equalities minister Nia Griffith repeated that promise in January 2025 - Hansard
Yet so-called ‘conversion therapy’ remains legal today.
And Amnesty International’s research shows us that not only are millions of pounds being spent on attempts to ‘cure’ LGBTQIA+ identities, but that spending on this is increasing. Meanwhile, some of this money is being used to lobby politicians against banning so-called ‘conversion therapy’.
In the time lawmakers have been debating, delaying and breaking their promises to LGBTQIA+ communities, so-called ‘conversion therapy’ groups have been proliferating in the UK, harming untold numbers of LGBTQIA+ people as they vastly increase the amount of money they spend.
Heated public and political debate about whether or not trans identities should be included in any ban has played a big role in the delay. But seven years on from the first Prime Minister’s promise to ban the practice, it makes you wonder – what else is preventing politicians from delivering on their promise to LGBTQIA+ people?
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