from Christian Today
A host of Christian and free speech groups have warned of the dangers presented by the government’s Conversion Practices Bill as parliamentary scrutiny began earlier this week.
The controversial bill says that conversion practices that cause “serious harm”, “serious alarm or distress” or that are “abusive” – including applying “psychological or emotional pressure” – would become criminal offences.
The proposed law also defines a conversion practice as “any conduct … with the intention of …causing an individual … to have or not to have, [or] to believe they have or do not have, a …particular sexual orientation … or a particular transgender identity (which includes identifying as ‘neither male nor female or as not solely male or female’)”.
The Christian Medical Fellowship, Christian Concern, the Coalition for Marriage, the Free Speech Union and The Christian Institute have all raised serious concerns about the bill.
The Christian Institute is threatening to pursue a judicial review, should the bill make it onto the statute books.
In a lengthy post on the bill, the Christian Medical Fellowship warned that loving parents who decline to affirm a child’s new proclaimed gender identity, or who just urge them to reflect on their life, could be deemed to be engaging in “abusive” “conversion practices.
Similarly a person who seeks prayer or counselling from a member of the clergy due to unwanted same-sex attraction, could later decide that the prayer and counselling they asked for was “abusive”.
“People must be able to speak truthfully and respectfully without fear of criminal investigation”,, the Christian Medical Fellowship said.