Turnbull refuses to act on Australia's "gay conversion" mental health torturers

Turnbull's Mardi Gras selfies at this years Mardi Gras

After an in depth report from Fairfax main stream media about Australia's burgeoning "gay conversion"/torture therapies, prime minister Turnbull has refused to act. Calling it a "state issue". This despite complaints about conversion therapy being levelled at the Federally run school chaplaincy program that was instituted via Tony Abbott (white bitter middle aged Catholic). 

Also the state of Victoria taking it on as said "state issue" and asking for federal gov help in dealing with it.

Also it being appropriate to refer this as a federal issue because it's being questioned over a religious right in the RWNJ inspired inquiry into religious freedom in Australia. Fair enough I reckon. Inquiring about religious freedom works both ways you know...

Victorian Mental Health Minister Martin Foley said the Andrews Government was deeply concerned about the impact of gay conversion therapy, telling Fairfax Media: “It’s a whole new level of bullying and mental health trauma, where people are urged to deny who they are.” The problem, he admitted, is that much of it is “clandestine,” making it difficult to track and regulate.

“But that shouldn’t stop us." “What is needed is for it to be taken up as a key part of the national mental health strategy,” said Mr Foley, who is also Victoria's Equality Minister.

“Groups like beyondblue and Orygen talk regularly about one of the major drivers (of mental health problems) being LGBTI young people dealing with identity denial. And yet here, under a cloak of respectability, some organisations are promoting that very denial... It’s not anything other than dangerous quackery.”

 The national mental health strategy commits governments to improve the mental health of Australians, prevent suicide, and reduce stigma and discrimination. If conversion therapy formed part of this plan, it would essentially sign up the states and the Commonwealth to work together to address the issue.

However, when asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about the practice, Mr Turnbull’s spokesman declined to comment, saying it was a question for Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.

Mr Hunt’s spokesman, in turn, said: “This is not something which is funded, supported or practiced under the Commonwealth. Therefore by law this is a matter for states.”

Canberra’s response belies the fact that gay conversion ideology has been quietly pushed in schools as part of the federal government’s chaplaincy program.

It has also been raised in the context of the federal review into the religious freedom.

A Change.Org petition distributed last week, with about 12,000 signatures and counting, also calls for Mr Turnbull and Mr Hunt to act. The Age

This just isn't good enough. I'd bet if straight people were on the line over this the reaction would be very different from Canberra.

This despite the Fairfax report in to the abysmal circumstance where gay conversion therapies have free reign in Australia all under the disguise and umbrella of religion. 

Gay conversion has been discredited as ineffective, damaging, even dangerous. But across Australia, organisations who believe that LGBTI people can or should change are hard at work.

Conversion practices are hidden in evangelical churches and ministries, taking the form of exorcisms, prayer groups or counselling disguised as pastoral care.

They’re also present in some religious schools or practised in the private offices of health professionals.

They’re pushed out through a thriving network of courses and mentors in the borderless world of cyberspace, cloaked in the terminology of “self improvement” or “spiritual healing”.

And they’re causing real harm. The Age

Fucks sake, how much freedom do these religions want? We can get married and they  go bloody tropo :s  The Catholic church is protesting over dobbing in paedophiles to the police, and everyone wants to continue inflicting psychological torture on to the LGBT? And now they're using this inquiry into their freedoms to want to discriminate against us LGBT putting it into federal law? FFS! 

Let's not forget what happened in the US after they gained marriage equality where the LGBT seemed to fall asleep thinking they'd won it all. Little did they realise the reactions against them that the conservative christians would partake in.

Let's not forget that, and realise in Australia that there will be a similar backlash by the christians despite their defeat, albeit tempered by Australian society. Indeed, the struggle is very far from over.