West Australian LGBTIQ+ advocates have accused the McGowan Government of double standards when tackling child abuse in religious organisations. Earlier this week, Community Services Minister Simone McGurk told The West Australian that the government had decided that state legislation aimed at improving the reporting of child abuse would focus on religious institutions “because as institutions those […]
Survivors of LGBTQIA+ conversion practices have written to state and territory governments which have not yet banned such practices. Advocates for a ban on conversion therapies have previous raised concerns that Queensland and the ACT that do not cover all recommendations from survivors, the letter outlines ten key policy objectives that advocacy groups want […]
Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault. Perth based ex-gay advocate James Parker has spoken about the recent anti-gay conversion therapy laws that have been introduced in Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory comparing them to the Nazi Gestapo, and the Stasi secret police – who operated in communist East Germany. “What’s happening in […]
Alison Xamon MLC, the Greens’ spokesperson for Sexuality and Gender Identity, has criticised the WA Labor Government for its failure to commit to banning harmful LGBTIQ conversion practices, including in religious and informal settings. In parliament on Thursday Xamon again questioned the government about its intentions for banning conversion practices which attempt to change a […]
Survivors of LGBTQIA+ conversion practices have welcomed calls by the WA Greens for Western Australia to enact legislation against it. Upper House Greens MP, Alison Xamon, signaled recently that the issue needs to be addressed locally in the wake of other states moving ahead with bans and criminal penalties. Nathan Despott, from survivor group Brave […]
LGBTIQ+ advocates and conversion therapy survivors have welcomed the ACT’s ban on conversion practices, which passed the Legislative Assembly yesterday. The ACT has become the second Australian jurisdiction to address the issue, following Queensland’s legislation earlier this month. Spokesperson for LGBTIQ+ advocacy group just.equal and Canberra resident, Ivan Hinton-Teoh, said the ACT’s legislation is ‘far […]
The Australian Capital Territory has passed a bill that will see LGBTIQ+ conversion therapies banned across the territory. The legislation has been passed two years after Chief Minister Andrew Barr’s government announced their intention to address the issue, and follows Queensland as the first state to outlaw the practice. Conversion therapy survivor Chris Csabs told […]
OPINION: Rodney Croome is a spokesperson for just.equal and Equality Tasmania. I know what it’s like to live in a state that is wrongly seen as backward on LGBTIQ rights and rarely has its successes celebrated. That’s why I was reluctant to buy into criticism of Queensland’s LGBTIQ conversion practices legislation, which local advocates are […]
Survivors of LGBTIQ+ conversion therapy practices are urging Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to pledge to strengthen the state’s recent ban on conversion therapy should her government return to parliament after October’s state election. LGBTIQ+ advocates and conversion therapy survivors have raised concerns that the legislation rushed through parliament last week does not extend to religious […]
OPINION Attempting to change or interfere with a person’s identity is a terrible abuse of human rights. And yet, up to 10% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Australians are vulnerable to harmful so-called conversion therapy practices, according to a 2018 report from La Trobe University and the Human Rights Law Centre. Conversion therapy attempts […]
