Religion

Victoria to ban 'abhorrent' practice of gay or gender conversion therapy


The Victorian government will introduce legislation to outlaw conversion therapy seeking to change someone’s sexuality or gender identity, with fines of close to $10,000 or up to 10 years in jail.

The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020, to be introduced on Wednesday, will empower the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to investigate reports of conversion therapy practices.

“We’re sending a clear message: no one is ‘broken’ because of their sexuality or gender identity,” Victoria’s attorney general, Jill Hennessy, said. “These views won’t be tolerated in Victoria and neither will these abhorrent practices.”

Practitioners of conversion therapy seeking to change someone’s sexuality or gender identity and found to have caused serious injury could face up to 10 years’ jail under the criminal sanctions proposed in the legislation. Those who try to avoid the law in Victoria by sending people to conversion therapy out of the state would also face criminal sanctions and fines to a maximum of close to $10,000.

The Victorian government went to consultation on a proposed ban in October last year. In its report released with the legislation, the government said survivors of conversion therapy and the LGBT community supported outright bans. Religious groups preferred bans to focus on conversion therapy without consent and regulation to focus on medical and health practitioners, with religious organisations seeking to have church doctrine and teachings exempted from the definition of conversion therapy.

The report quotes survivors of conversion therapy who spoke about the lasting impact it had on their lives and mental health.

“I went to prayer therapy with a small group associated with a breakaway Uniting church in New South Wales who thought I needed to fix my ‘sexual deviance’ by casting off demons that had been passed down family lines,” one anonymous submission stated.

“I internalised my feelings of shame to such a degree that my mental, physical and spiritual health all suffered. Suicidal ideation was an ongoing lived reality in my life alongside two failed suicide attempts and a complete breakdown which required hospitalisation.

“I cannot express strongly enough how important it is to see these messages of brokenness stopped. It is a matter of life and death.”

Religious groups have sought to distance themselves from the older practices of electro-shock treatment, aversion therapy or other extreme methods, while arguing that religious counselling encouraging people to change their sexuality or gender identity should not be banned if a person consented to the treatment.

Much of the public religious conversion therapy does not now claim to be able to change a person’s sexuality, but instead encourages people not to act on their desires and to live a celibate life.

The campaign against similar legislation before it passed into law in Queensland was largely focused around transgender rights, with religious and anti-trans feminist groups opposing the inclusion of gender identity therapy in the ban.

The Victorian legislation goes further than the Queensland bill – which passed in August – and covers anyone who attempts to convert someone else. The Queensland legislation was criticised by survivors for being limited to health providers and not capturing informal conversion therapy outside of healthcare settings.

Due to the limited remaining sitting weeks in 2020, the legislation in Victoria will not pass until next year at the earliest.

Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800



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