Parents and Schools Need Certainty
Parents, teacher and school leaders have lots of questions that deserve answers following the introduction of the Minns Government’s Conversion Practices Ban Bill 2024.
Going well beyond their original commitment to outlaw gay conversion practices, the Bill applies to ill-defined ‘gender identity’ conversion practices, potentially criminalising the love and care of parents, teachers and school leaders across the state simply trying to provide the best care to young people.
With gender identity ill-defined to mean “the gender-related identity of an individual, which may or may not correspond with the individual’s designated sex at birth”, how can parents with any certainty know if their actions may be ‘supressing’ their children’s desires – with the potential for five years in jail?
• Are parents forced to adopt their five-year old’s preferred pronoun?
• Do grandparents need to ask about their grandchild’s gender identity before buying clothes as a birthday present?
• Will aunts and uncles be forced to take their nieces and nephews to the toilets they choose if they go out shopping with them?
The overly broad term ‘suppression’ also creates a minefield of uncertainty.
• Can a faith-based school tell students to avoid sexual activity before marriage?
• Can a teacher pray with a student who might ask for prayer to remain sexually pure?
• Do teachers and staff face jail for not adopting a student’s preferred pronoun?
To use a not uncommon example, can a school continue to work with parents and support a young girl with mental health issues who is struggling with puberty to understand that it is a natural part of becoming a woman, or must they accept her previously unexpressed desire to be a boy, which they and the parents firmly believe is a coping mechanism for this change.
Christian schools are calling on the Government to provide clarity and certainty for parents and schools by amending the Conversion Practices Ban Bill 2024 to remove gender identity and provide a clearer definition of ‘suppression’ to avoid unintended consequences.
ENDS
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