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This week we focus on the fight to protect our kids from the influence of gender-fluid ideologies, and stand for a biblical view of gender.
Bold, bright voices are rising in our nation to answer the call.
Senator Alex Antic’s promising bill aims to ban gender reassignment treatments and surgeries for those under 18, then we have Moira Deeming’s intelligently-penned, fact-filled motion for an inquiry into gender affirmation in Victoria and lastly in South Australia, a united team of parents, lawyers, doctors and a brave de-transitioner are set to carry a cogent case to their Parliament about the harm caused by the medicalised treatment of gender dysphoria.
There is real hope for change, and we celebrate those taking courageous action. Speaking up to share the truth is, ultimately, a compassionate endeavour.
God bless you,
Michelle Pearse
CEO
Please read on for more updates and ways you can take action.
Thank you to our faithful supporters and donors. It is because of you that ACL’s lobbying efforts are made possible. Please consider how you may support ACL with a gift that will make a positive difference.
NATIONAL NEWS
WATCH OUR LATEST WEEKLY WRAP
Our video wrap-up of the world of politics and how it relates to us as Christians continues with a new episode this week. Get up to speed quickly with updates from around the nation.
FRIDAYS WITH FRANCIS
In this episode, Wendy Francis covers growing global concerns over the proliferation of harmful gender affirmation treatments. She highlights courageous voices and parliamentarians who are taking a bold stand for truth regarding sex and gender, including global leaders like the UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who are unapologetically affirming the binary nature of biological sex. Watch and be encouraged by the growing momentum to protect our children from the influence of gender-fluid ideologies.
To see the national poll on Australians’ attitudes to gender issues
referred to in the video.
Watch This Week’s Fridays With Francis
PROTECTING OUR KIDS: ALEX ANTIC’S BOLD MOVE AGAINST GENDER REASSIGNMENT FOR MINORS
Senator Alex Antic has introduced a promising bill calling for a blanket ban on all gender reassignment treatments and surgeries for people aged under 18, including the use of damaging, development-stunting puberty blockers. This is a response to growing community concern regarding the rapid surge in young people embarking on gender transitions. Many of these decisions appear to be driven more by social pressures and peer influence than by legitimate medical need.
Damaging “gender-affirming” treatments skyrocket
The statistics underscore the urgency. In 2014, just 5 young Australians were prescribed puberty-blocking drugs. That number skyrocketed to 624 by 2019. There’s also been a tenfold increase in young people seeking services from public gender clinics, with 2067 cases reported in 2021, compared to just 211 in 2014. This trend is deeply troubling.
Add to this the growing number of Australians undergoing gender-affirming treatments, only to later regret their decisions.
Most disturbing are diagnoses of gender dysphoria in children as young as three years old. It’s absurd to think that so-called “experts” are qualified to assert that a child’s gender should be contrary to their biological sex at such an early age.
Protect our kids – back Senator Antic’s Bill
If passed, Senator Antic’s Bill will stop health practitioners from providing interventions aimed at changing a minor’s biological sex as determined by sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous profiles. This is a big step towards safeguarding our youth from making life-altering decisions they may later regret.
Please contact the Senators in your state and ask them to support this important Bill to protect our children from serious harm.
Back the Bill: Contact Senators in Your State
VIC’S MISS: MOIRA DEEMING’S MOTION FOR GENDER AFFIRMATION INQUIRY VOTED DOWN 21-16
Despite growing concerns from Australian parents, the Victorian Government last week disappointingly opposed a motion by Moira Deeming calling for an inquiry into medical affirmation treatment for gender-dysphoric children and adolescents.
As she rightly raised, it’s undisputed fact that the medicalised gender affirmation practices mandated in Victoria have been abandoned in multiple global jurisdictions, for two simple reasons:
- The lack of high quality and long-term evidence that they actually deliver the promised benefits and;
- The mounting international evidence that real harm is already being done to children that is long-term, catastrophic and irreversible.
We congratulate Moira Deeming for moving this motion. This inquiry was all about the need for evidence-based care for children. But instead of debating fact, we found it sad to hear inflammatory, discriminatory, and hurtful comments directed at de-transitioners by the Labor, Greens and Legalised Cannabis parties, ignoring the trauma experienced by many.
The ACL urges the Allan Government to reconsider their position and be open to provide much-needed care for gender dysphoric young people including those who de-transition.
SA TAKES A STAND: ADVOCATING FOR AN INQUIRY INTO GENDER AFFIRMATION MEDICALISATION
This week ACL’s National Political Director Wendy Francis, along with 8 parents from all over Australia, medical practitioners, lawyers, and a brave young de-transitioner all met in the South Australian Parliament to advocate for an inquiry into the debilitating practice of gender affirmation medicalisation and all that accompanies it.
As the fallout grows from what is an experimental trial, people in power are starting to listen. They were encouraging meetings, but we must push on. We won’t stop until the practice is stopped.
THE DOWNLOAD
The Download is a life-changing experience for young people aged 18-25, developed by the ACL and the Lachlan Macquarie Institute.
Register today to be equipped with a solid biblical foundation and practical wisdom to not only have a right response to culture, but also influence it for the glory of God.
Watch this video to hear ACL CEO Michelle Pearse and NSW State Director Joshua Rowe share why hundreds of young Australian Christians have taken part in this amazing week-long program.
Applications close on 30 November 2023.
One week to get real – Register now!
LATEST STATE NEWS
QUEENSLAND
Help stop full decriminalisation of prostitution in Queensland
The Queensland Government is fast-tracking the full decriminalisation of prostitution in the state. Recent amendments, quietly bundled into legislation, have legalised street soliciting and weakened police powers to prosecute offenses related to prostitution.
The proposed full decriminalisation means:
- Removal of advertising restrictions: The sex industry will be free to advertise their services anywhere, including billboards, radio, TV, and buses.
- Access to accommodation providers: Accommodation providers can’t refuse access to sex service sellers.
- Local council restrictions: Local councils can’t restrict brothels when considering local planning laws.
- Equal treatment for home-based brothels: Home-based brothels will be treated like any other home business.
These changes could lead to brothels operating next door to homes, raising obvious concerns among Queensland residents.
If you oppose this and believe it’s not in the community’s best interest, take action now! Sign the petition and let Queensland’s Attorney General know where you stand. Nearly 900 people have already signed. Join them in protecting your community and advocating for responsible legislation.
VICTORIA
Over the past few months, Victorian State Director Jasmine Yuen has conducted a series of “Meet Your MPs Days” across the state, bringing parliamentarians of different parties to meet with Christian constituents, putting issues of concern before them.
The last meeting for this year was on Saturday with Evan Mulholland MLC in attendance. Adem Somyurek MLC sent his apologies.
We’d like to thank all the MPs and our supporters who attended these events. We greatly valued the constructive and respectful discussions on different challenging issues.
If you missed out this time, we’d like to encourage you to attend one when opportunity arises in the near future, as this is how we ensure Christian voice is heard!
Note: We’ll need to leave South-Eastern Metro Region to next time.
Petition Inquiry into gender identity services for young people
The tide is starting to turn as more medical professionals, parliamentarians and mainstream media acknowledge the irreversible harms of gender transitioning inflicted on children. While it was a good beginning for the Victorian Liberal National Party, who voted in support for an inquiry last week, there’s still more work to do, as there are many voices in full support of gender ideology that seek to silence rational debate.
The powerful speech of Libertarian MLC David Limbrick last week is worth noting, “I question the motives of anyone that would oppose an inquiry, because if you have concerns about this you should support the inquiry. If you think that what we are doing in Victoria is world class and top notch, you have nothing to fear from an inquiry and you have nothing to fear from this being examined and scrutinised. What I am concerned about is that people that oppose this are trying to cover up what is going on. I have very serious concerns about what is going on. Why is it that every time that someone wants to talk about this the reaction from activists and from people in the government is to shut them up? They call them names. They say, ‘You’re a transphobe. You’re a Nazi.’ When people are trying to have very rational debate, instead of engaging in that debate the default response is to shut them up. This is unacceptable. These are important issues. You will not silence debate on this. Debate will happen with or without you. We are talking to people who have been harmed by this, and their voices deserve to be heard as well.” (Legislative Council Hansard, October 13)
It is important that you add your voice to the call on the government to implement an independent inquiry into gender transitioning services for children. Please sign and share this petition before the deadline November 12.
Proverbs exhorts us to “speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves”. The issue we’ve explored today is a sensitive one for many, but we cannot stay silent in the face of the harm being done to our younger generation by falsehoods and damaging ideologies.
That is also why The Download is such a great opportunity for our young people to gain a solid Biblical perspective of the many deceptive cultural currents running through our society, and shine brightly for His truth. I heartily recommend it!
God bless,
Michelle Pearse
CEO
Thank you to our faithful supporters and donors. It is because of you that ACL’s lobbying efforts are made possible. Please consider how you may support ACL with a gift that will make a positive difference.
| The Australian Christian Lobby is a grassroots movement of over 250,000 people seeking to bring a Christian influence to Australian politics. We want to see Christian values and ethics influencing the way we are governed, do business and relate as a society. We are strictly non-party partisan and do not receive any government funding. Authorised by M. Pearse, Australian Christian Lobby, 18 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600. You are receiving this email because you have either requested to receive emails from ACL or you have participated in an ACL campaign. If you want to review or change the emails you receive from ACL, click the following link to manage your preferences. Manage your email preferences |