The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has renewed calls for the Tasmanian government to reject proposed anti-conversion laws despite a leading LGBT activist describing them as “worse than useless” and that the bill “looks more like it was drafted by the ACL.”
ACL State Director Christopher Brohier said: “The bill is an entirely unnecessary piece of legislation. Since the biased report of the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute (TRLI) was released in May 2022 there has not been one verified case produced by the promoters of this legislation. This is a bill to fix a non-existent problem.”
“This legislation has the potential to cause actual harm as it will make it harder for vulnerable Tasmanian children who are on a pathway leading to sex change treatment and surgery, resulting in their infertility,” he asserted.
“The scientific evidence continues to mount against treatments that are recommended by the TLRI report which forms the basis of the Tasmanian Government’s Justice Miscellaneous (Conversion Practices) Bill 2024. To proceed with the TLRI recommendations in the face of the negative reports, would be irresponsible at best, madness at worst,” Mr. Brohier added.
He was referring to a new British scientific study that found no evidence to back up claims that the negative cognitive effects of puberty blockers are fully reversible and concluded there is some “evidence of a detrimental effect of pubertal suppression on IQ”. The World Health Organisation recently announced that the evidence regarding the long-term outcomes of child gender transition treatments is limited and conflicting.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has released updated guidance materials which recognises that there “are methodological limitations in studies which assess the effectiveness of all models of treatment on the mental health of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria” and that “the risk of intervention needs to be weighed against the risk of non-intervention.”
“The Tasmanian government cannot, in all good conscience, proceed with harmful medical interventions that have been shown to sterilise vulnerable people and potentially suppress IQ. The proposed bill gives an effective green light to such practices and restricts the ability of parents and the community to point out to young people this mounting evidence. Tasmanians deserve better. The Government must reject the TLRI report and call a halt to its proposed bill,” Mr. Brohier declared.
The ACL called on the State Government to establish an independent judicial inquiry into care for gender confused children and consider all the international scientific evidence before proceeding with the bill.
Mark Spencer, Director of Public Policy for Christian Schools Australia also expressed concerns about the bill. “We believe these laws are a solution in search of a problem as there is no evidence that conversion practices are a widespread issue in Tasmania,” he said
“Nobody can provide us with any clear indication or examples of what the problem is that the government is trying to solve. If there is a problem the government needs to address, it involves the regret increasingly being felt by young adults after being provided with little real support for alternatives to medical transition at an early age,” Mr. Spencer added.
Vanessa Cheng, Executive Officer of the Australian Association of Christian Schools said: “Health practitioners should be free to treat young people experiencing gender dysphoria without fear of being constrained by unnecessary gender conversion laws. We support laws which outlaw harmful, coercive practices related to sexuality or gender identity and call upon the Tasmanian Government to ensure there are no unintended consequences impacting the best care and support for young people.”
Spokesperson for Equality Tasmania Rodney Croome described the bill as “worse than useless. After nineteen long months of drafting, the Government has issued a bill that not only doesn’t come up to the TLRI’s standards (only 3 of its 13 recommendations were acted on), but looks more like it was drafted by the Australian Christian Lobby.”
“The definition of conversion practices is narrow and inaccurate. Under this bill no organisation is charged with the responsibility of investigating conversion practices or educating faith communities about the law. The bar for prosecution is so high it’s unlikely anyone would be held to account.”
