Reports today that the Qld ALP are rushing through highly contested ‘gay conversion’ legislation have been met with disbelief and anger.
The National Association of Practising Psychiatrists, AMA Qld, the Coalition of Activist Lesbians, International Women’s Day Brisbane Meanjin, the Qld Law Society, leading lawyers and psychologists, and the Australian Christian Lobby were all stakeholders in the Queensland Government’s inquiry into gay conversion legislation, and all opposed the bill in its current form.
“The proposed conversion therapies legislation will have a highly detrimental impact on health service providers and potentially others who are involved in treating, counselling, caring for and advising individuals on matters related to their sexual orientation and gender identity,” ACL state director Wendy Francis said, “Under the bill medical practitioners will not be permitted to treat a child in any other way, except to affirm the child’s wish to transition gender, under threat of criminal sanction.”
“This bill also represents a loss of parents’ rights to affirm the birth sex of a gender-confused child.
“With Queensland the only State to have no upper house, for the government to ignore the LNP committee members’ dissenting report on this would be gross negligence.
“Gender affirming medical intervention is a medico-legal time bomb, with the risk that children will emerge as regretful young adult ‘de-transitioners’. How long will it take before some of these young adults sue the Queensland government for serious medical negligence?
“We call on the government to halt the passage of this bill until the parliament has received the report promised by Health Minister Steven Miles and allow public consideration of the implications of this bill.”
