Gay conversion therapy is still legal in Australia. Victoria is currently the only state introducing a law countering the practice, which will limit its use in a therapeutic setting. Doctors have historically been complicit in the mistreatment of LGBT people – it was only in 1973 that Homosexuality was declared not to be a mental illness by the medical profession in Australia, and for this reason many techniques used in gay conversion have a phychiatric underpinning. In many communities across the country, children are are forced to repress their sexuality to their psychological detriment. In this session you will discover the impact of this treatment on survivors and explore what we can do as future clinicians to support our LGBT patients, as allies and advocates.
Speaker:
Mr Chris Csabs
Chris Csabs is an LGBT+ advocate and survivor of Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE), or Gay Conversion Therapy. His campaign at change.org/EndGayCures has over 60,000 signatures and prompted the Labour Party to commit to a federal response to the issue. He is a co-writer of the SOCE Survivor Statement which was sent to Prime Minister Scott Morrison in August 2018. Chris has written and spoken extensively about his experiences and the need for a multi-faceted strategy to end SOCE in Australia, appearing in the media on shows such as ‘The Project’, ‘The Today Show’ and ‘The Feed’.