New South Wales Labor MLC Greg Donnelly is urging state residents to sign a petition on the NSW Parliament website that calls on members of the Legislative Council to vote against the so-called Equality Bill introduced by Independent Alex Greenwich nearly a year ago..
Mr. Donnelly says the proposed pro-LGBT reforms risk far-reaching unintended consequences for women and children. The bill seeks to alter 20 pieces of legislation in what Mr. Greenwich says is an effort to achieve equality and remove remaining discrimination of LGBT communities.
The Catholic Weekly reports: “Faith and education leaders from Christian, Muslim and Hindu traditions have opposed the bill which would strip important protections for faith-based schools and religious institutions under the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act.”
The bill would introduce sex self-identification laws, simplifying the requirements for changing a person’s legal sex on official documents including birth certificates to a mere administrative task. Mr. Donnelly told The Catholic Weekly this would enable males to legally identify as females and access women-only spaces as well as remove protections for safety and girls’ and women’s sports.
“In that respect particularly, it’s unquestionably one of the most significant pieces of proposed legislation I’ve seen in parliament. That issue alone is a matter that all citizens of New South Wales should be concerned about, not only people of faith. Both inside and outside parliament, there seems little appreciation of the profound nature of this bill. If it were just one bill dealing with the part which deals with altering one’s birth certificate, that in itself is seismic as an issue,” Mr. Donnelly declared.
“Proponents of this are saying other states in Australia have introduced sex self-ID, so New South Wales would simply follow the others. But my position is that there is no good reason whatsoever to follow the others. New South Wales has the largest stake in the Commonwealth and needs to pause and have a good look at the implications of this and the way it is already playing out here in Australia and around the world.”
The proposed changes would also allow children under the age of 16 to consent to gender-affirming medical treatment such as puberty blockers without their parents’ consent. The bill would further liberalise prostitution laws and remove the current ban on access to international commercial surrogacy in the state. That’s despite growing concerns about its potential for exploitation and trafficking of vulnerable women and children.
