TalkTV: the conversion therapy ban, with Julia Hartley-Brewer
Julia Hartley-Brewer put a series of claims to me on TalkTV in June 2026, framed around the proposed conversion therapy ban. On the surface, the conversation was about legislation. Underneath it, every question was really asking the same thing: do trans children exist, and should we be helping them?
The claims came quickly and confidently, and some of them will have sounded reasonable to people who have not looked closely at the evidence. The Cass Review presented as settled science. Puberty blockers presented as a conveyor belt to irreversible harm. The conversion therapy ban presented as a law that would send parents to prison for asking questions. None of that is an accurate picture, and this page goes through each claim in turn.
I went on the programme to say what I actually think, and I did. What follows is the fuller version, with the space to explain what the evidence actually shows and why these arguments, however fluently made, do not hold up.
Moments worth watching
Each one is about half a minute, and has a page of its own.
The myths, answered
What was put to me in this conversation, and what is actually true.
Deeper dives
Some of these claims deserve more than a paragraph, so each one has a film and a full piece behind it.
What this looks like in a life
The studio argument is one thing. These are people it actually happens to.
