The Tasmanian Conversion Practices Bill
We’ve read the small print. Find out what it really means.
Let them Grow up Gay
Tasmania’s Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill is presented as protecting LGB people from attempts to change or suppress sexual orientation or gender identity.
We strongly support protections against genuine attempts to change or suppress sexual orientation.
But this bill goes much further.
It places sexual orientation and gender identity together, even though they are fundamentally different. Sexual orientation is rooted in biological sex. Gender identity is a personal identity that someone asserts for themselves and can change over time.
The bill also changes the legal definition of sexual orientation so that it is framed around “gender” rather than sex. We fought for same-sex rights not same-gender rights.
That matters for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
We know that, for many children with gender-related distress, those feelings do not persist into adulthood, and many later grow up to be lesbian, gay or bisexual.
That is why time and open-ended exploration matter. Young people need space to understand themselves without being pushed towards transition or any other predetermined outcome.
Sexual Orientation Means Sex.
LGB people also need clear, robust definitions of sexual orientation in law. Our rights depend on recognising that sexual orientation is about the sex of the people we are attracted to.
By redefining sexual orientation around “gender”, the bill weakens that clarity and risks undermining protections based on same-sex attraction.
Our concern is simple…
When getting it wrong can mean complaints, investigations and enforcement action, therapists and counsellors may choose the safest legal option rather than the most cautious clinical one.
That creates pressure to affirm a young person’s gender identity rather than allow enough time to understand what is driving their distress. Or, as we have seen in other states, it means professionals who could help a young person in distress choose not to work with the young people.
The result risks becoming a one-way path towards gender medicalisation, where affirmation is legally safer than careful exploration or watchful waiting. That path can progress to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery.
Sexual-orientation conversion practices should be prohibited.
But protecting gay and lesbian people does not require redefining sexual orientation, conflating homosexuality with gender identity, or creating laws that may discourage careful therapeutic exploration.
Complex and overreaching.
At 88 pages, this heavy-handed bill goes beyond any draft that was consulted on. It brings in criminal punishment, a dedicated commissioner, and a legal duty on every Tasmanian. Anyone can trigger a complaint, even a third party who wasn't involved, and claims can be made with no time limit.
We reject the bill in it's current form.
We call on the Tasmanian Parliament to reject this bill in its current form and establish a proper inquiry into paediatric gender medicine.
Sign the petition and tell Parliament to protect LGB young people.