The United Kingdom has cancelled its first ever international LGBTIQ+conference following a boycott by more than a hundred organisations, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The Safe to Be Me congress, scheduled to take place in London in June, was intended to promote LGBTIQ+rights in the UK and worldwide.
The event will not go ahead as the organisations have withdrawn in protest of the UK government’s stance on conversion therapy.
The government last week banned therapy intended to “cure” people of their sexual orientation, but made an exception for the “treatment” of transgender individuals.
In response, dozens of organizations said they would only support the event if the ban also applied to conversion therapy for transgender people. When British Prime Minister Johnson did not extend the ban, the organizations withdrew.