Login
Victoria stamps out cruel conversion practices
The “cruel and bigoted” practices that attempt to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity will soon be stamped out across Victoria under new laws.
Naomi Neilson
Victoria’s Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020 will alter measures to protect people from the serious damage and trauma inflicted by the cruel, bigoted conversion practices. The bill will denounce these practices as deceptive and harmful and reinforces that the ideology behind them is “flawed and wrong”.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
The laws will allow the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to consider and respond to reports of change or suppression practices that may still exist and launch investigations where there is evidence or systematic change of practices.
“We are sending a clear message: no one is broken because of their sexuality or their gender identity,” Attorney-General Jill Hennessy said. “These views won’t be tolerated in Victoria, and neither will these abhorrent practices.”
Responses to the reports will be survivor-led, trauma-informed and will be focussed on community education and facilitation. This will ensure that any response meets the needs and wishes of the affected person. The bill also puts in place criminal sanctions for those who inflict pain on others via these practices, with up to 10 years’ in jail.
Those who try to get around the new laws by subjecting people to the practices which cause injury outside of Victoria could face a jail term of up to two years. Any advertising of the practices will also incur a criminal sanction and a fine of up to $10,000.
“LGBTQI+ Victorians are to be celebrated and valued – just as we are,” said Victorian Commission for LGBTQI+ Communities Ro Allen, adding: “We are not broken, and we do not need fixing. The importance of this reform for our LGBTQI+ communities cannot be overstated – it will save lives.”
