Medicalised.
Young people who would grow up gay risk being steered towards medical transition.
Many lesbian and gay adults were gender-nonconforming children.
We do not accept that a child can be born in the wrong body, or that a masculine girl or feminine boy needs to change their body to become more like the opposite sex.
How it can happen
A lesbian who never got the chance to find out.
A gender-nonconforming girl who is attracted to other girls may not yet understand herself as a lesbian.
If her distress about being female is understood through a male gender identity instead, social transition may be followed by medical intervention.
Her same-sex attraction hasn't changed. But within her new identity, it may now be understood as heterosexual.
- A gender-nonconforming girl, distressed about being female
- Distress understood as a male gender identity
- Social transition
- Puberty blockers and hormones
At each step, exploring whether she might simply be a lesbian becomes harder, and under this bill, legally riskier.
The law affirms an identity that may change.
Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne
“Your teen’s gender identity may stay the same their whole lives, or change over time.”
The same guidance says what it calls gender-affirming care could include “medicines like hormones or puberty blockers”.
The Bill, Section 5
Changing or suppressing gender identity is part of the legal test
So helping a young person explore whether their identity might change can itself be reported as a conversion practice.
NHMRC, under review
Australia is rewriting the guidelines
The Australian Government has asked the NHMRC to develop new national guidelines for under-18s with gender dysphoria, based on a review of the evidence. Development is expected to take three years.
If the bill discourages exploration while medical pathways remain available, some young people may move further along that path before their distress, sexuality and gender nonconformity have been fully explored.
How do we make sure a gender-nonconforming child is given time to grow up before decisions with lasting consequences are made?
Reject this bill and hold a public inquiry.
Tasmanian MPs need to understand what is happening in paediatric gender medicine before passing a law that may influence how gender-distressed young people are treated. An inquiry should look at the evidence, including the new national guidelines, and at what this bill would mean for young people who may grow up lesbian, gay or bisexual.
Your Questions Answered
Does the Bill require medical transition?
No. Our concern is the effect. If careful exploration carries legal risk, affirming a young person’s stated identity becomes the safest response for adults around them, and a medical pathway becomes more likely.
Why is this an LGB issue?
Many lesbian and gay adults were gender-nonconforming children, and some gender-distressed young people grow up to be lesbian, gay or bisexual. They may be too young to know that yet.
Isn’t paediatric gender medicine settled?
No. The Australian Government has asked the NHMRC to develop new national guidelines for under-18s with gender dysphoria, through a review of the evidence. Tasmania shouldn’t legislate ahead of that work.
What can I do?
Tasmanians: sign the petition by 26 October.
Everyone: share this page with lesbian, gay and bisexual friends and community groups.