There are many ways that LGBTQ+ people are made to feel shame. One is conversion 'therapy', also known as reparative therapy or sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), which is extremely damaging. In 2017 Victoria instituted an inquiry and was given power to ban practitioners, and recently the ACT government has pledged to do the same.
While there seems to be movement by the Greens and Labor to institute bans on a federal level, the Liberal Party doesn't seem inclined to even consider this issue. In response to a survivor-led petition, Scott Morrison said he had 'never thought about it' and that cracking down on conversion therapy is 'just not an issue for me'. His laissez-faire attitude is disheartening.
SOCE survivors and their allies released a statement calling for Australia to follow the lead of Brazil, Spain, Malta and several US states in banning conversion therapy, and a list of recommendations, including an inquest into the prevalence of conversion therapy.
We know SOCE doesn't work. The consensus among mental health experts is that gay conversion therapy has no scientific basis and is harmful. In a position statement, the Australian Psychological Association states there's 'no evidence' that SOCE works. People who undergo conversion are significantly more at risk to depression and self-harm.
However, despite this evidence, SOCE is still active in Australia. A 2018 Fairfax investigation by Farrah Tomazin reported that there are ten active ministries. There were stories of a trans child being forced into chaplaincy without her parents' knowledge, of ritualised exorcisms and deeply ingrained self-hatred.
In Tomazin's report, there's a link to a two minute talk given by the Living Hope Ministry in the US. I press play, thinking I will be able to separate myself from such blatant anti-gay rhetoric. Yet when I watch the video about 'how women become gay', it hurts. Not because of the anti-gay content, but because it uses language about God's love, the type of religious language I grew up with, to sneak past my defenses. For a moment, despite years of learning to accept myself, I waver.
Tomazin posits that this is key to the strategy: 'The success of the ex-gay movement is this ability to hit the sore spots; to make you question your own identity; to convince you that you're broken and need to be "fixed". If you happen to be young, religious or vulnerable, therein lies the danger.'
"The narrative of LGBTQ+ people being 'broken' and