What will the ban on conversion therapy ban?

I’m writing to ask you to consider acting with urgency in relation to proposed conversion therapy legislation. There is information about how to do so here, but I encourage you to read on first.

Background

Our church is privileged to be the spiritual home of a growing number of faithfully celibate single people, both heterosexual and same-sex attracted. In my view, such sisters and brothers faithfully model for us what it is to trust in the goodness of God. 

There are many communities in our society where these sisters and brothers could find encouragement to pursue sexual desires outside of lifelong, exclusive, heterosexual marriage. However, they (you) are in the midst of our fellowship, and entrusted themselves (yourselves) in Christ to us, knowing our convictions about the shape of Jesus’ call upon all our lives. They trust their community and ministers to honour and celebrate their faithful choices, and to keep encouraging and exhorting them to run that race until the day when no one will be married because all of us will be.  

In this sense, churches - the communities of faith in Jesus who share a common life and gather to spur one another along to life and godliness - are a last refuge for those who have heard Jesus’ voice, rejected the sexual obsession of our society, and fixed their eyes on the glory to come.  

However, safe spaces for such followers of Jesus to seek out refuge, as well as encouragement and support in pursuit of their deep convictions, are genuinely at risk. 

Proposed legislation

You may be aware that Mr. Alex Greenwich, the Independent MP for Sydney, has introduced a ‘conversion therapy’ bill, and that the NSW Government have also released a discussion paper for their own legislation. 

‘Conversion therapy’ is the practice of seeking to assist or coerce a person to change their sexual orientation, informed by a particular strand of 20th century psychological theory, and often employing aversion or shock therapy. In Australia, it is extremely rare, promulgated by only a few secular and religious organisations on the fringe of society. Rare, of course, does not mean non-existent, and it is more prevalent in multicultural and multifaith settings, according to studies from the UK. 

The Synod (parliament) of our Anglican Diocese declared in 2018 “the Anglican Church in the Diocese of Sydney does not practise, recommend or endorse ‘gay conversion therapy’”. Living Faith, an Anglican ministry to LGBTQA Christians, states on its website, “Our goal is not heterosexuality, but rather, being transformed by God into the image of Christ.” 

For this reason, I am thoroughly supportive of bans on so-called therapies involving physical and/or emotional abuse, whether practised by secular groups or by churches, which seek to force a change of sexual orientation in a person.

However, both Mr Greenwich’s proposal, and the government’s own discussion paper, propose more than just outlawing these abhorrent practices. Both are modelled on Victorian legislation - described by both advocates and critics as the toughest of its kind - that severely restricts religious freedoms to teach, pray and counsel on matters of gender and sexuality, and reflect the advocacy of the Human Rights Law Centre, which includes every expression of classically Christian sexual ethics under the heading, ‘Religious conversion therapy in Australia today.’ 

This is despite explicit commitments from Labor before the election that they would not use Victoria’s or Greenwich’s legislation in NSW, and they would protect prayer, religious teaching, and consensual requests for support. 

Inequity of pastoral care

I want you to grapple with the potential real life impact of this.  

A heterosexual single person, who is committed to deep friendships in chaste singleness, but who experiences a period of sexual desire which they have found particularly challenging, could freely receive prayer or affirmation from a Christian friend, small group leader or minister. However, under proposed legislation, a same-sex attracted person would be prohibited from receiving the same support. 

I find the prospect of this kind of forced inequity of care deeply troubling. Like many of you, I would probably disobey such a law, if that were the only alternative to refusing to provide pastoral care to someone in need, and I would do so without causing a fuss - it isn’t my freedom or rights that concerns me.  

My fear is that such draconian legislation might discourage our Christian sisters and brothers from seeking out pastoral care, however great their need, in order to protect us.   

Friends, this should not be.  

Time to Act

I rarely express political views nor tell people how to vote or act in the political arena. This is a moment of exception focused on a particular policy. 

What is needed at the moment is many Christians supporting their same-sex attracted sisters and brothers by graciously and clearly engaging with their local MPs. 

This website (from Freedom for Faith, a non-partisan legal think-tank headed up by Mike Southon, who has a background with the Labor Party) has tools and guides to help you write to, call, or arrange a meeting with your local MP to talk about conversion therapy and religious freedom. The site has how-to guides, talking points, and hand-outs to give your MP. 

Now, I know there are a variety of views among the members or our church on sexuality. While I would love us all to be united under the Word of God on this issue, I nonetheless hope that our shared commitment to the Gospel and care of others might similarly motivate you to oppose this highly restrictive proposed legislation. 

In Christ,

Nigel Fortescue

(with thanks to Michael Paget)