GOVERNMENTS should look beyond legislative bans in efforts to end conversion therapy, an international legal expert has told MSPs examining the issue.

Dr Christine Ryan, senior legal adviser to the UN special rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief, said states should affirm people's sexual orientation and gender diversity.

Holyrood's Equalities Committee heard evidence from a number of different groups and experts as it discussed a petition to end conversion therapy.

Campaigners want to see a ban on the practice, which seeks to change a person's stated sexuality or gender identity.

All Holyrood's political parties backed an end to such activity during the election campaign and the co-operation agreement between the SNP and Scottish Greens committed to introduce legislation banning it by 2023.

Ryan said she welcomes the proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act by the Scottish Government, which aim to simplify the process by which transgender people can obtain legal recognition of their gender but which are subject to opposition from critics.

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And she said states have an obligation to "protect individuals from practices aimed at changing or suppressing their sexual orientation or gender identity".

She said: "Fulfilling the state's duty to end conversion practices is going to require more than a legislative or regulatory ban.

"Conversion practices stem from systemic privileging of a heterosexual cisgendered norm and from discriminatory belief systems.

"States need to take measures to affirm sexual orientation and gender diversity."

Dr Adam Jowett, of Coventry University, described his research into conversion therapy for a UK Government study, saying: "We found no robust evidence that conversion therapy can change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

"But there is a growing body of evidence that exposure to conversion therapy is associated with poor mental health, including depression and suicidal thoughts."

Nathan Despott of the Brave network, an advocacy group for LGBT people of faith, said the phrase "conversion practices" is more useful than "conversion therapy" at identifying the issue.

While there has been some backlash from conservative and Christian groups, Despott said the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill could only lead to prosecutions where there is intent to cause "injury or serious injury".

Earlier, the committee heard evidence from several groups which had concerns around a ban on conversion therapy in Scotland.

Peter Lynas, of the Evangelical Alliance, said that while his organisation supports a ban on coercive and abusive behaviour, there is a lack of clarity on what constitutes conversion therapy.

And Piers Shepherd, a researcher with the Family Education Trust, said: "Coercive and abusive practices are clearly wrong.

"But the proposed ban is so broad, it appears to attempt to impose highly contested social and political views in a manner that discriminates against those who don't share such views."