A further response to the article,  Historian Steven Chavura is right and gay ambassador Anthony Venn-Brown is wrong on the conversion laws,  in The Other Cheek by John Sanderman which was posted on Facebook.

“I have been following the many articles since the LGBTQ Conversion Practices law and Anti-Discrimination NSW Complaints scheme came into operation. It’s been interesting to see the far-flung coverage this got with blog posts and articles in the UK and the US as well as Australia. From what I have read, most of them are essentially rehashing some of the original articles.

The first very clear observation is that sadly, there is a lot of fear mongering. The exaggerated impression is that police are patrolling outside churches and ready to run in and arrest any pastor or church leader who is “praying the gay away”. Clearly that will not happen, so people need to settle.

To look at this holistically, we need to go back to the reasons for the introduction of the ban on ex-gay/reparative/conversion “therapy”.

It came about because of the survivors who told their stories of harm and trauma. For many, it has been long term. As you know John, I have been working in this area for many years: 25 years, to be precise. So there is no one in Australia more familiar with these tragedies than I. And of course, there is also the decades of substantial academic research which has shown that the promise of sexual orientation change is not only a fallacy but also harmful.

The Anti-Discrimination NSW complaints scheme only comes into operation, where there has been substantial harm. I’m sure pastors don’t intend to harm, but they have – once again, for decades. This must stop. Causing another harm, whether physically or psychologically, is against the law. The new legislation targets this specific area of harm.

Steven Chavira obviously doesn’t go into details on Twitter about how he prayed “with individuals to help them manage unwanted same-sex attraction”. I’m happy to talk with him about that or anyone else for that natter if they want.

Same sex orientation is normal. Heterosexuality is more common. But there is nothing wrong with being gay, lesbian or bisexual, it is certainly not evil or caused by “arrested development”. Those concepts existed in the 50s and 60s. Unfortunately, some conservative believers still hold on to those outdated concepts/theories. This legislation is now their biggest wake up call.

As I highlighted in my speech at the Parliament House launch, it is not just the harm that must stop, but we also want to make sure people will not take their lives over the issue, as too many have already.

A quote from my speech.

“And I learnt about the greatest tragedy of all – the suicides. How many lives lost can never be calculated. One survivor wrote to me: “I’ve always been taught that God hates me. Between 14 and 30, I tried to change through ‘ex-gay’ programs. During my years in the conversion “therapy” movement I made many friends, but of the 40 people, only six are still alive. One died naturally, the rest by suicide.”

You can read the full speech here.

Currently, I am working on an article about the negative response to the law and scheme which should be available on our blog shortly.

If people want to delve into this more deeply, they can read my submission to the NSW government. It’s a 6000 word document, so I’m sure it will answer any questions you may have about ex-gay/reparative/conversion “therapy”.

Hope this helps.

You can make sure the misinformation is counteracted by sharing this article using the social media buttons below.