Hi Supporters!

You may have seen in the media that the ALP has changed its policy regarding gay conversion ‘therapy’. The Australian Christian Lobby’s Martyn Iles has been vocal on social media, taking credit for what he labels a “watered down” approach.

What they may not realise, though, is that this new policy wording had nothing to do with the ACL. It actually fits within the recommendations of survivors and researchers.

1. The ALP has acknowledged in their policy that it is not simply the ‘practice’ of formal gay conversion therapy which harms people. Harm is also caused by the ideology underpinning the pseudo-therapy. Far from ‘watering down’, this actually broadens the acknowledgement of the issue to include damage done through the informal messaging and ideology. See the SOCE Survivor Statement for more information about why this is important.

2. Whilst the ALP no longer explicitly seeks to criminalise gay conversion therapy as part of its policy, it does not mean it has necessarily been ruled out. Read the recommendations in the HRLC report for more info about that. The new wording also still allows for other forms of legislation and penalties against formal practices of gay conversion therapy (what this petition is about)

3. The new policy goes further than simply ‘banning’ gay conversion therapy, acknowledging that a broad approach (which can include legislation, education and partnering with communities) is going to have better outcomes for survivors. This is fantastic, as it opens the scope of the government’s potential response to include recommendations from both the SOCE Survivor Statement and the HRLC’s report.

Yesterday I spoke with a representative from the office of Shadow Health Minister Catherine King to discuss the policy change and the concerns regarding the removal of criminalisation from their policy wording.

They assured me that the wording had changed in response to the recommendations, and that legislation has definitely NOT been ruled out as part of a multi-faceted response to gay conversion. The policy wording was changed in order to encompass more than just the practice of pseudo-therapy, acknowledging that the ideologies underpinning these practices are also causing harm and need to be dealt with.

This year, I have met more survivors of gay conversion therapy than I did whilst in the movement. It has been harrowing to see the damage that ‘gay conversion’ / ‘trans conversion’ has caused to so many people in Australia. Something that was surprising to me was the amount of people I met who had been through gay conversion therapy, but who didn’t recognise it until much, much later. Even more people have never been through any formal gay conversion therapy, but they have been totally immersed in the ideology of the movement since they were children. The damage in their lives has been profound, but they thought that ‘gay conversion’ didn’t apply to their experiences because of the media focus on pseudo-therapies and practices rather than the ideology. So I am incredibly pleased by the ALP’s firm acknowledgement of the harm that gay conversion ‘pseudo-therapy’ and its ideology causes.

We are now gearing up to get this on the agenda for the federal election, amongst the current discussions around religious freedoms. I would like to reiterate that religious freedom is important, however it should never give license to do harm to people, including through gay conversion.

I will need your help in 2019, so please keep an eye out for updates. Our petition is more relevant than ever, and together we will continue to push for a multi-faceted strategy to combat this issue, including a strong legal/legislative response.

Chris Csabs