Pass Laws to Prohibit LGBTIQA+ Conversion Practices

The petition of the undersigned Citizens of Tasmania draws to the attention of the House:

1. LGBTIQA+ people are a valued part of the Tasmanian community.
2. They are not "broken", cannot be "healed" by conversion practices, and suffer great pain and trauma when conversion practices are inflicted on them.
3. Research surveys from the University of Tasmania and from La Trobe University show that 1 in 20 LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians are survivors of conversion practices and that these survivors are three to four times more likely to have PTSD and attempt suicide than other LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians.
4. There is ample evidence that conversion practices continue to be inflicted on LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians.
5. Major health bodies including the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Psychological Society have condemned conversion practices because they are based on false and misleading claims about sexual orientation and gender identity, involve discredited pseudo-science, do not work and inflict great harm.
6. After an inquiry in which it heard from all sides, the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute (TLRI) recommend a prohibition on conversion practices.
7. In particular, it recommended amendments to the Mental Health Act, the Health Complaints Act, the Anti-Discrimination Act, the Civil Liability Act and the Criminal Code.
8. Survivors of conversion practices have welcomes and endorsed the recommendations of the TLRI report following years of courageous advocacy to ban these harmful practices.
9. Legislation prohibiting conversion practices will neither impinge religious freedom, nor constrain health professionals if they work within existing professional guidelines.
10. But it will ensure LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians are treated as full, equal and valuable members of the Tasmanian community.

Your Petitioners therefore ask the House to support legislation that will prohibit conversion practices.