News Item

Transition regret shared in Parliament

Personal stories of gender dysphoric young people being led onto a pathway of experimental, irreversible and damaging treatments were heard in Tasmania’s parliament on 23 November.

In perhaps a first in Australia, the truth in relation to increasingly discredited affirmation therapy has been clearly spelled out in an Australian Parliament.

Around 100 people attended the Free Speech Australia’s parliamentary forum which was held in response to the highly contested recommendations by the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute’s (TLRI).

They gathered to call upon the Tasmanian Government to oppose the TLRI recommendations which, if implemented, would include the following –

They heard a learned presentation of the critical importance of careful psychotherapy and of dangers of affirmation therapy and legislating to mandate it by former Professor of Psychology and Music in Sydney University Professor Diana Kenny. 

There were powerful, yet profoundly concerning stories shared at the forum of young people whose bodies, and lives, have been irreversibly damaged by affirmation therapy. They provided clear evidence that the TLRI recommendations are uneducated, flawed and must be rejected by the government.

Children suffering from gender dysphoria deserve the best support Australia has to offer. They should never be made to feel that they need to medically alter their bodies in order to live as their true self. Concerns which have been silenced for years are being proven correct, evidenced by the personal stories heard at the forum.

The TLRI Report is hopelessly flawed and must be rejected. If the Rockliff Government legislates the TLRI recommendations, they will be willfully ignoring the voices of those who have personal experience of the harm caused by what is being recommended.

There will be no excuse. All the Tasmanian Government needs to do is look to the UK where 1000 families are expected to join a medical negligence lawsuit against the recently shut-down UK Tavistock Gender Clinic which is accused of recklessly prescribing puberty blockers with harmful side effects and is also alleged to have adopted an “unquestioning, affirmative approach” to children identifying as transgender.

As well there is now a first Australian case in which evidence against puberty blockers was presented. The case settled with a court order prohibiting the use of puberty blockers until the child turned 16. 

For her courage in hosting the forum, Lara Alexander, the Liberal member for Bass was attacked in the Tasmanian Parliament by members who had not attended and could not have known of what occurred at the Forum. Such is the state of our Parliament.

These are the numbers: Premier Rockliff 03 6478 6050, Lara Alexander 03 6777 1013

Let’s all together urge the Tasmanian Liberal Government to listen, and to shelve the TLRI report and conduct a proper judicial inquiry before opting to legislate in this complex area.

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