Anti-Conversion Coercion in Tasmania

Posted on December 22, 2022 
Filed under Australia, Culture wars

At AP (The Australian Presbyterian), David Robertson shares his thoughts on what he calls “The Canary in the Coal Mine” –

“The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute (TLRI) have produced a report for the Tasmanian government recommending new laws to deal with sexual orientation and gender identity conversion practices (SOGI). This doesn’t sound as though it would be riveting reading – and for many people within and without Tasmania, it hardly seems relevant to their lives.

I read the report, mainly to prepare a short response. However I found it so disturbing and revealing that I have taken some time to respond in more detail. Why? Because it is a great example of how progressive ideology takes over the basic civic institutions of Western societies. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

The report itself is 332 pages long. Which itself is a statement. Who is going to be bothered to read a report of that size on a subject which seems so inconsequential to most of us? If people bother with it at all it is likely to be within the comfort zones of their own interest groups – or they will just skim read it – note the various buzz words and either agree with the conclusions of the report, or just shrug their shoulders and walk away. Who cares? I do.

And so I thought I would share with you the main lessons to be learned from this report – lessons that can apply in many situations (e.g. The GRA reforms in Scotland, the compulsory trans ideology in the US, or the ‘diversity’ managers being imposed on the NHS in the UK, and corporations throughout the world). The message and the methodology is the same.

One of the main problems is the use of language. I am totally opposed to any form of conversion therapy which is coercive and harmful. Arguing against this report is not the same as arguing for conversion therapy. It is ironic that an ideology which is supposed to be against binary choices – only offers a binary choice. You are either on the ‘good’ side, the ‘right side of history’, the progressive; or you are an evil, hateful regressive. Although the report doesn’t put it in that language, the implication is the same. But life is much more complex than such simplistic binary views.

First, we will look at the sections of the report that deal with pseudo-science, the need for new legislation and the question of harm. Part two will look at the confused language, the question of consent and the definition of conversion. Part three looks at who the report is really aimed at and what its effect will be. …”

Part One: Pseudo-Science and Pseudo–Needs.

Part Two: The Emperor Has No Clothes.

Part Three: The World Turned Upside Down.