Victoria is a step closer to banning gay conversion therapy – including prayer-based practices to change LGBTI people – after 55 MPs voted in favour of the bill this week, while the opposition were not present.
Premier Daniel Andrews described the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill as life-changing, however he has been accused of “over-reach” and the bill is viewed by church groups as a threat to religious freedom.
A statement by Archbishop Makarios on Tuesday expressed “grave disquiet” concerning the bill which criminalises gay conversion practices.
“While the Orthodox Church extends its loving embrace around all, in an effort to protect the vulnerable from coercion, the proposed Bill appears to extend too far towards the opposite extreme, specifically and without properly defining its parametres, criminalising prayer for one another, which is at the heart of Orthodox spirituality,” he said.