Opinion
Democracy is, above all else, the art of compromise. Short of the sort of hive-mind that the left can only dream of, citizens of a polity are going to have very different and often opposing needs, wants and opinions. You can’t, to paraphrase FDR, please all of the people, all of the time.
If you’re not pleasing everyone at once, then you’re probably on the right track. If you’re pissing off the worst people, then you’re definitely on the right track.
It looks as though the Tasmanian government might be hitting the sweet spot with its latest draft legislation.
Harmful practices aimed at changing the sexual orientation of transgender, gay, lesbian or gender-diverse individuals would be criminalised under a long-awaited draft bill released by the government.
Attorney-General Guy Barnett said the government is seeking input from the public over the draft Justice Miscellaneous (Conversion Practices) Bill, which would criminalise attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation through certain activities.
Of course, “conversion practices” laws are all the rage with the “progressive” left lately — and, as is always the way with the left, they insist on dragging wet, spineless conservatives down with them.
To credit the Tasmanian Liberals, they seem to be reaching for a compromise that will penalise what are actually harmful malpractices, and avoid an Ardern-style Orwellian ThoughtCrime bill.
The ban is aimed at preventing the harmful practices such as inducing vomiting or nausea in the recipient while they are shown images connected to their sexual orientation […]
These exclusions in the bill included those by health services providers that are “clinically appropriate”.
The bill also excludes expressing opinions or religious views, or parents’ guidance to their children, as a conversion practice.
The draft bill read: “A practice that amounts to no more than the expression of an opinion, idea or belief by a person, including a statement of religious principle or the provision of parental guidance, is not a conversion practice for the purposes of this bill”.
Do you mean people will be allowed to say what they really think, without being hauled away by the Thought Police, to a Rainbow Re-Education Camp?
No wonder the groomer lobby is outraged.
But it has drawn anger from LGBTIQA+ activists, who claim it does not go far enough to protect gender-diverse people and has numerous exclusions that would allow conversions to continue.
Which is kind of curious, coming from people whose mission is to convert everyone to their creepy ideology.
“The bill will allow conversion practices to continue, both in health and religious settings, under the guise of ill-defined terms like ‘support’, ‘assistance’, ‘care’ and ‘guidance’ [… said Rodney Croome, president of Equality Tasmania].
“It will also allow conversion practices if there is ‘consent’, despite the fact that it is impossible to consent to a ‘treatment’ that doesn’t work for a ‘condition’ that doesn’t exist.
Do you mean, like convincing children to surgically and chemically castrate themselves to convert to any of the 72 imaginary “genders”?
Free Speech Alliance spokesperson Isla McGregor said she was pleased that the government had taken a nuanced approach that did not impede the professional ethics of health practitioners.
The Examiner
On the opposite side of the fence from the Groomer, the “Pray the Gay Away” crowd aren’t too pleased, either.
So, all in all, the Tasmanian government may be close to getting it right, for a change.