Faith leaders have called on the Victorian Government to amend rather than expand the state’s conversion therapy laws. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
In a submission to a Victorian Government review being undertaken by the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC), faith leaders affirmed their opposition to harmful practices of coercion while reiterating their concerns that the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021 “extends far beyond addressing these harmful practices”.
The leaders quoted from a multifaith letter written at the time of the Bill’s introduction, which shared concerns that the law “criminalises conversation between children and parents, interferes with sound professional advice, and silences ministers of religion from providing personal attention for individuals freely seeking pastoral care for complex personal situations”.
“It includes ill-conceived concepts of faith and conversation, vague definitions, and scientifically and medically flawed approaches. It places arbitrary limitations on parents, families and people of faith … the Bill appears to target people of faith in an unprecedented way, puts limits on ordinary conversations in families, and legislates for what prayer is legal and what prayer is not.”
The faith leaders told the review that the Act’s “broad overreach, ambiguity and ill-defined concepts of faith had caused confusion in the community” in the five years since the laws were passed.
“The net effect has been a reluctance among religious leaders, parents and other care givers to engage in this area,” the faith leaders said. As a result, “individuals who are in need of care may miss out on valuable support from those closest to them, at a time when they are especially vulnerable”.
The submission was signed by the Catholic bishops of Victoria, as well leaders from Anglican, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and other traditions.
“The disproportionate focus on people of faith and the ways this has been expressed – often lacking lived experience and nuance – is one of the reasons that we believe the Act needs to be amended,” the faith leaders wrote.
They said that moves to ban conversion and suppression practices in New South Wales and South Australia “have done so with far narrower terms”.
“We urge the Victorian Law Reform Commission and State Government to revisit the Act’s parameters and, consistent with approaches taken in other jurisdictions, narrow its scope to ensure that parental guidance, pastoral care, counselling and religious teaching are not unduly and disproportionally restricted.”
The full submission by the faith leaders can be viewed here.
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Faith leaders call upon the Victorian Government to fix conversion therapy laws (Melbourne Catholic)
