While Boris Johnson defends his divisive ‘conversion’ therapy ban that targets transgender people by excluding them from being protected, 58 percent of people intending to vote for the Prime Minister’s Conservative Party, want the ban to protect trans folks.

In his attempt to defend his decision, Johnson by uses words like “love” and “support” to sugar-coat transphobia in an interview where he refers to being trans a ‘novel’ concept and dismisses our identities through the kind of fear-mongering and misinformation that is used to validate hate against transgender people.

He plays upon the strategy of inaccurately referring to lifesaving healthcare as an ‘irreversible treatments’ that threaten youth, and goes on a transmisogynistic rant that dismisses trans women’s rights to participate in sports.

In line with TERF rhetoric, Johnson advocates for a patriarchal gender binary that puts trans women at risk of violence, in his attempt to show that he’s an ally to queer people as long as they’re not trans – a strategy often used to bridge a divide between queer and trans folks.

How is it fair to continue putting transgender people at risk of violence and suicide just because conservative politicians like Boris Johnson find our existence too “complex” to understand?

Trans people are just trying to live by simply being who they are. It’s politicians who are continuing the legacy of appropriating our living as a ‘complexity’ for their votes.

Youth who are subjected to the harmful practice of so-called ‘conversion’ therapy – which baselessly claims to ‘change’ a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity – are twice as likely to be at risk of suicide compared to those who aren’t, and transgender and nonbinary youth are twice as likely to be subjected to conversion therapy.

A growing list of about 14 countries including France, Canada, Brazil, Norway and Samoa, have bans on the harmful practice of ‘conversion’ therapy.