"The majority of lesbian, gay & bisexual people who gender activists claim to represent are not familiar with the true aims (of Victoria's draft law to criminalise 'conversion therapy') & would not support them if they were." 1/
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/daniel-andrews-courts-the-militant-politics-of-gender-revolution/news-story/6719d210839f9317f837a64507215a9c

When Australia's state of Victoria declared in 2019 it would ban "conversion therapy", the inevitable media headline cited "gay conversion therapy" because people are vaguely aware of the history of unethical, sometimes cruel, attempts to change an adult's *sexual orientation*.

But look at this screenshot news report in The Age newspaper. "Gender identity" -- confusingly defined by activists as something that *may or may not* be in line with birth sex -- has been tacked on to "sexuality". What is "gender identity" conversion?

The government treats gender identity & sexual orientation as if they are both immutable: "Change or suppression practices -- also known as conversion practices -- are any practices ... that attempt to change or suppress a person's sexual orientation or gender identity."

"Gender identity" in children arguably is quite unlike adult sexual orientation, & this is why the activist project to ban conversion therapy internationally is so contentious. The context is a startling surge in hormone drugs for minors who declare a trans "gender identity".

Critics worry these conversion therapy bans may scare off ethical psychotherapists who believe it's *wrong* to put a troubled minor on a medicalised path without first exploring their bodily distress for underlying issues such as autism, same-sex attraction or family trauma.

What medicine used to be call "sex reassignment" has been rebadged "gender affirming care", as if a child mistakenly "assigned female at birth" always had a male "gender identity", & lifelong testosterone, mastectomy & hysterectomy just "affirm" the young person's true identity.

But what if these medical interventions are regarded as *gender change*, not affirmation? Could that lead to a prison sentence under these new laws? Well, the clinicians doing "gender affirming" medicine also champion the new wave criminal laws against conversion therapy.

These laws follow an activist template & they are careful to exempt from prosecution any therapy that "affirms" trans identity, although sometimes the language slips back into words such as "transition", which imply *change*. Screenshot from Victoria's draft law.

. @ConversationEDU ran a criminologists' article seeking to defend "LGBTIQ people" from conversion therapy which the authors say aims to "achieve an exclusively heterosexual & cisgender identity -- in other words, where a person’s gender identity matches that assigned at birth".

Conversion therapy, they say, has included "extreme measures (such as) castration, lobotomy and clitoridectomy". Their next sentence: "Crucially, conversion therapy does not refer to interventions that help affirm a person’s lived gender identity, such as for transgender people".

These "affirming" interventions -- hormonal drugs & surgery -- can make a young person sterile & incapable of full sexual pleasure as adults. The emerging group of regretful "detransitioners" warn about the downsides but research is only just beginning. https://twitter.com/JaneLomax13/status/1350490042230308865?s=20

Young women who re-embrace their biological sex & come out as lesbians are prominent among detransitioners, and this is why groups such as @LGBAlliance_Aus see danger in conversion therapy bans that confuse sexual orientation with gender identity. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/conversion-therapy-ban-may-backfire-lgb-group/news-story/f065829f62254bfdbdaac91961b9ab20

Are gender clinics in some cases *changing* same-sex attracted but confused girls into trans, "heterosexual" boys? Yes, says Tavistock clinic whistleblower David Bell: "This is a form of conversion therapy for young people who are gay or lesbian".
https://twitter.com/gaysVSgender/status/1353132798790479872?s=20

Victoria's Legislative Council, which has yet to vote on the Andrews government's conversion therapy ban, returns on February 2. Opposition MP @LouiseStaley invoked Tavistock detransitioner @KLBfax when speaking on the risks of the law & gender medicine. https://twitter.com/LouiseStaley/status/1351728348775346177?s=20