Deputy Jayne Ozanne OBE is celebrating after a draft bill was passed to ban conversion practices in the UK.

Before her return to Guernsey and her election to the States last year, Deputy Ozanne had been involved in campaigning for a ban.

She says “after eight long years” she is “delighted and relieved” a ban will now be implemented.

Deputy Ozanne described conversion practices – which are efforts to change, suppress, or eliminate a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression – as a “terrible scourge… which is far more prevalent in our society than many would choose to believe”.

Deputy Ozanne was at the House of Commons for the announcement of the ban, having travelled to England this week for her investiture at Windsor Castle.

She was awarded her OBE in the New Year’s Honours List for her services to religion and equality based on sexuality and gender.

She received the award from His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales on Wednesday.

“It is particularly poignant to me that (the ban announcement) comes the day after my investiture for my OBE at Windsor Castle, where HRH the Prince of Wales expressed his deep concern with me at the fact this was still happening in the UK,” she said.

Writing on X, Deputy Ozanne shared her own deeply personal reasons for lobbying against conversion practices.

“The devil as always is in the detail and I remain concerned as to whether the ban will fully cover ‘praying the gay away’ and the thorny issue of consent,” she wrote.

“I myself willingly consented to years of prayer by loving friends who were keen ‘to help me lead a Godly life’ by trying to make me straight. The emotional toll of it all nearly killed me.

“It is particularly damaging to young and vulnerable LGBTQ+ people who want to please their family and religious leaders by consenting to these practices.”

The ban on conversion practices will be rolled out across the UK, closing current legal loopholes that leave victims at risk, with new legislation filling in gaps in the law.

Deputy Ozanne missed a States meeting this week to be in the UK for her investiture and the announcement of the ban.

Her work around religion and equality that saw her awarded the OBE was a key part of her election campaign in Guernsey last year.

“I challenge abuses of power and policies that fail to protect the vulnerable, which is why I was glad to become an Equality Guernsey Ambassador,” she wrote in her manifesto. “It is also why I have served as an adviser to both the UK and Welsh Governments and have addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council.  My preferred way of delivering change is through building a ‘Coalition of the Willing’ amongst senior leaders, which is how I have worked over the years in Westminster and the Church of England.”