Conversion practices - LGBT+ people of colour and minority ethnic faith experiences: research report

Barriers, need for culturally competent support, and capacity building

Asma previously worked in sexual health. During that time they had several people come to them with different stories of forms of conversion practices. Asma spoke of one example of a Christian man of Indian heritage who came to them as a patient for eight years. While he came for sexual health reasons, he was able to open up about his struggles with himself being a gay man. His wife had found out about this and told ministers and people within his community. She had also made him feel guilty about his children and what effect he might have on them. Feelings of shame, and that his community and family would never accept him, led him to suicidal ideation. Asma explained that this example highlights the different routes at which people arrive at seeking support. They may not reach out to mainstream or specialist support services targeted at these issues because they may have fears about being outed, or not being listened to/accepted. People are looking for a trusted place and face, and Asma was able to be this for this man, through just listening and holding the space for him to talk about what he was facing. Asma explained that having someone South Asian to talk to made a big difference to this man, and that this needed to be considered in legislation - having culturally competent services where people feel safe and comfortable is imperative to successful legislation and civil measures that will not only end CP but allow people to seek support and healing.

It is particularly important that culturally competent services are available locally. Asma explained that part of the reason this man had come to them was convenience – many advocacy and charity services are national or based in big cities. This is an issue across the board for LGBT+ competent services. It is a further issue finding LGBT+ competent services that are also intersectional. Shakti Women’s Aid also highlighted this significant issue. They said that there needs to be understanding that many accredited counsellors and services do not have sensitivities around both LGBTI+ identities and people of colour, particularly the biggest (mainstream) bodies. Very few culturally competent services could or do cater to intersectionally marginalised LGBT+ people of faith. Considering barriers to seeking support including fears of rejection, loss of family, loss of faith, ostracisation, and harm, this is problematic.

Ogunmuyiwa^[70] found that LGBT+ spaces were not always able to provide this support either:

“Only 25% of the UK Black Pride survey respondents found their local LGBTQI+ spaces welcoming to ethnic minority people compared with 67% in the national LGBT survey”

“49% of respondents in the UK Black Pride survey were not aware of LGBTQI+ spaces in their local area”.

There is another barrier seen when we consider some cultural beliefs around mental illness and reaching out for mental health support within differing communities. For example, Choudhury et al^[71] conclude that even when LGBT+ South Asian individuals “have access to various health services, cultural norms that marginalize LGBTIQ identities deter many of them from using these services.” Harm^[72] found that comments in their own research related to more support being needed within South Asian communities for coming out and mental health concerns.

Rehman et al note that there are no services in the statutory sectors “which focus exclusively on the mental health of BAME LGB people in the UK but there are in the voluntary sector.”^[73] As we also found within this engagement, services for POC and minority ethnic LGBT+ communities are “scarce and are often provided by informal non-profit organisations led by volunteers and community members.”^[74]

The scope of this, and the significant health inequalities of POC and minority ethnic LGBT+ people, cannot be discussed in full here, but this must be considered.

We heard from some that people seek support within other faith denominations - this is due to the importance of spirituality to individuals. For example, some Muslim and Sikh people may turn to LGBT+ inclusive 'all religions and none' spaces, or inclusive Christian spaces. This demonstrates the need for safe supportive spaces that allow for one’s diverse faith and LGBT+ orientation or identity.

We heard from Sarbat Sikhs that capacity building in the bid for more widely available support for potential victims and survivors is imperative. There is a severe lack of capacity, structures and funding to support groups who support people of colour and minority groups of people. We have seen that all organisations supporting and advocating for LGBT+ people of colour and people of minority ethnic faith that we have engaged with for this work are either not funded, or underfunded - this will need attention as part of any successful civil scheme to end CP and support survivors.

Services and support to report and heal from CP and other forms of discrimination, violence and prejudice should;

“Understand the social, cultural and religious contexts in which their clients are embedded, as the norms, values and representations associated with these contexts will shape both their experiences and the coping strategies they utilise.”^[75]

Based on this short report and work with stakeholders we make our recommendations to the EAG.