The Australian state of Tasmania is planning to outlaw conversion therapy practices with a recently unveiled draft legislation, referred to as the Justice Miscellaneous (Conversion Practices) Bill 2024. This bill follows through on the state government’s commitment last year to make conversion therapy illegal. The commitment was galvanized by a report from the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute, which revealed the risks and harm associated with such practices.
The report presented the dark side of conversion therapy, arguing that it was based on beliefs that encouraged abusive physical, psychiatric, and psychological practices resulting in profound harm to LGBTQA+ individuals. These practices have had the knock-on effect of perpetuating social stigma, discrimination, and further abuse.
The Bill describes “conversion practice” as “a practice that attempts to change or extinguish the sexual orientation or gender identity of the recipient of that practice.” The goal of the draft legislation is to ward off harm caused by practices that aim to alter or eliminate a person’s sexuality or gender identity.
However, some LGBTQIA+ activist groups have found the bill lacking. According to Equality Tasmania spokesperson Rodney Croome, the bill fails to do enough to stop conversion practices, especially those conducted in health and religious settings, which could still continue under vague terms such as ‘support’, ‘assistance’, ‘care’, and ‘guidance’.
The Bill also allows for practices provided by a health service provider that are part of the “clinically appropriate assessment, diagnosis or treatment of a person, or clinically appropriate support for a person or enables or facilitates the provision of a health service for a person in a manner that is safe and appropriate.” Tasmania’s Attorney-General Guy Barnett has backed the legislation, maintaining that the recognized loopholes serve the essential purposes of enabling “clinically appropriate” health practices and permitting “more general actions such as providing support or understanding to another person.”
The draft bill is now open for public consultation until February 16, 2024.