Ahead of a potential ban on conversion 'therapy' in Tasmania, a petition being pushed by the Australian Christian Lobby says the community has been "taken by surprise" by the push to outlaw conversion practices and urges it be reconsidered.
Conversion practice, or therapy based on the belief a person's gender identity or sexuality can be changed is still legal in more than half of Australian jurisdictions.
Queensland, the ACT, and more recently Victoria have banned the practice, while the governments of South Australia and Western Australia are working on legislation that would do the same.
In Tasmania, the last state to decriminalise homosexuality, the practice is legal — but potentially not for much longer, with the state's Premier Jeremy Rockliff saying his Liberal government will ban the practice.
However legislation to do so is yet to be tabled in parliament.
Advocates for a ban on gay conversion practices in Tasmania launched a petition following the release of a Tasmanian Law Reform Institute report recommending the government take action.
The petition, sponsored by Independent Member for Clark Kristie Johnston, has garnered 4,993 signatories as of Saturday.
An opposition petition, sponsored by Tasmanian Liberal Member for Bass Lara Alexander, has so far gathered 2,352 signatories.
The opposition petition, which is being promoted by the Australian Christian Lobby, urges people to demonstrate their opposition to the "radical and oppressive recommendations in the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute (TLRI) Report".
The ACL's Tasmanian director Christopher Brohier said his organisation "does not support any coercive or abusive practice".
"But there's no evidence that's occurring. This is legitimate care and counselling," he said.
"If a person wants to have genuine client-led therapy, that should be their right. The state shouldn't be telling them 'no, you can only have one sort of therapy'."
Mr Brohier said among several concerns he had with the TLRI's proposed changes, it appeared the law was being "specifically targeted towards the faith community".
"This whole umbrella seeks to catch legitimate practices and care. If a parent wants to talk to their 13- or 14-year-old about promiscuity and does that two or three times, that will be caught [by the ban].
The petition states the TLRI's report, and its 16 recommendations, had "taken by surprise many parents, health practitioners, counsellors and the teaching profession".
"The implementation of the 16 TLRI recommendations will not only restrict parents and medical practitioner's capacity to choose what is in the best interests of their children and patients, but potentially criminalise them and others who seek to assist," the text of the petition says.
"The report recommends the law to set guidelines that would specify which medical professionals can assess and treat conditions like gender dysphoria and what procedures they must use. Parents should be free to choose their preferred specialist and the medical profession should be free to exercise their profession."
Mr Brohier said he had spoken to a "young man in Tasmania" who he said was "involved in the same-sex attracted community".
"Samuel had profound mental health issues. He had proper care and counselling, and his mental health has improved and coincidentally perhaps, his same-sex attraction has diminished."
The petition's instigator Karen Dickson, an ACL member who describes herself as "a nurse in emergency and parent of three teenage girls" said she "did not want to see our young people fast-tracked down a path they shouldn't be on".
Ms Dickson said the "idea parents cannot say 'let's stop and explore the issues', is wrong".
"We are not talking about a nose piercing. If we don't, as parents, have the right to be able to openly discuss the issues with young people, then how are we helping our kids?"
But for Bron Larkins, a survivor of conversion practices, her sexuality was not something needing "fixing".
"I'm not sick, I didn't need a solution," she said.
"A Latrobe University study showed people like myself who have been through conversion therapy are more likely to have post-traumatic stress disorders.
"The hard thing about conversion therapy is that there is a person in a position of power, in my case it was a parent, then a medical practitioner, who said they had a solution.
Veteran Tasmanian LGBTIQ campaigner Rodney Croome said the "fact most states are yet to ban conversion practices sends a message that those practices are somehow legitimate and the ideology beneath those practices is accepted".
"There are still some people who believe we are fundamentally broken and need to be healed," he said.
"That's why we require legislation to prevent those kind of conversion practices.
"The last thing we want to see is a state that drags its feet, become a haven for conversion practices."
He also urged people to "reject" the "fearmongering" from the ACL.
"In 2017, when a majority of Australians voted yes for marriage equality, they also effectively rejected the kind of fearmongering that says that whenever we treat LGBTQIA+ people well and fair under the law, the sky will fall in," he said.
"I urge everyone who rejected that fearmongering in 2017, to reject it again.
"The sky didn't fall in then and it won't fall in now."
Ms Larkins said she decided to join the push for a ban to "say the damage done by conversion practice is real".
"My mother died a couple of years ago and I hadn't spoken to her for eight years. I had to speak out because I don't want anybody else to go through this harmful practice and have themselves, their family, their loved ones, damaged."
