Schools will recall that the the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute has recently released its long awaited report, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conversion Practices FINAL REPORT NO. 32. Our Briefing outlined the significant problems with the Report.
Following recent comments by the Tasmanian Premier that he supports 'acting on the recommendations of the law reform institute report', Christian schools have requested meetings with the Tasmanian Premier and Attorney General to raise our concerns about the radical reforms contained in the Report and the potential impacts on providing pastoral care and support for students within Christian schools.
Once again, there is no support for the cruel, harmful and coercive practices aiming to change someone’s sexual orientation have occurred in the past and should be outlawed. CSA and other faith based school groups are concerned that any new laws could pose significant risk for schools that hold and teach a traditional Biblical faith-based ethic around sexuality, marriage and gender or simply adopt any ‘non-affirming’ practices as a pastoral care model for students.
While Christian school groups like CSA and AACS are supportive of any new legislation that would ban coercive or abusive practices to ensure there are no ‘gaps’ in existing protections, in drafting such legislation careful attention must be paid to definitions to ensure that:
- the full range of quality medical care options can continue to be provided to assist gender confused children by protecting the rights of health practitioners as they seek best outcomes for their patients,
- the rights of parents to choose what is in the best interests of their child are protected from government interference, and
- faith based schools are protected in the free exercise of their religious belief, speech and teaching on these matters.
There is now a petition live on the Tasmanian Parliament website against the recommendations in the TLRI report. The petition can be accessed here.
We are encouraging all schools in Tasmania to alert your communities to this petition and seek their support for the continued ability to provide sensitive care for young people by signing the petition.
CSA is continuing to work with other faith groups in responding to these proposals.