A draft bill proposed by the Labour party in the UK, intended to outlaw conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals, could inadvertently make it illegal to assert that a person identifying as a cat is, in fact, human. This assertion is based on a report from the think-tank Policy Exchange, which criticizes the legislation for its "extraordinarily broad" wording.
The report, co-authored by Baroness Falkner, former chair of Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission, argues that the draft Conversion Practices Bill is "ideological, authoritarian, unworkable and wholly unsuitable for a democratic and pluralistic society." It contends that the bill's definition of transgender identity, which includes those who "identify as neither male nor female or as not solely male or female," could encompass a wide array of self-identified labels, including "catgender" – described as having a strong connection to cats or experiencing "delusions of being a cat."
"It is not an overstatement to say that, under the draft Bill, a person may face imprisonment for trying to persuade another that they are not, in fact, a cat," the report warns. Baroness Falkner stated that the draft bill "appears oblivious to human rights law in Britain" and breaches rights to a fair trial, family life, freedom of belief, and freedom of expression.
Furthermore, the report claims the legislation could criminalize parents who attempt to dissuade their children from gender transition. It suggests parents could face up to five years in jail for refusing to fund gender reassignment surgery or for trying to prevent a child from pursuing a course of action deemed harmful to their health. The report also highlights concerns that primary school children could face prosecution for remarks made about classmates who identify as transgender, even if made without malice or harmful intent.
A government spokesperson disputed the report's findings, calling it "misleading and based on a number of inaccurate claims." The spokesperson stated that the bill targets a specific form of abuse and "does not touch regular parenting," adding that "LGBT+ people should never, without exception, have to suffer coercion or abuse in an effort to change who they are." Sources also reportedly dismissed the claim about cats as "nonsense," insisting the bill does not define new genders in law.
The Policy Exchange report also questions the prevalence statistics cited to justify the bill, calling figures suggesting high rates of conversion therapy practices like exorcism "wildly improbable." It points out that practices used to force gay people to change their sexual orientation, such as electric shock therapy and "corrective rape," are already illegal.