Australia’s discrimination bill
Australia shelves religious discrimination bill after lawmaker’s heartfelt LGBTQ rights appeal
“But while the Religious Discrimination Bill’s future is now uncertain, recent events remain triggering for many in the LGBT community,” according to Dr. Clara Tuck Meng Soo, a transgender woman and GP.
‘The experience of seeing the debate over the merits of the Bill would have had negative mental health impacts on some LGBTQI+ people,” Dr Soo told NewsGP.
“Children of diverse sexuality and gender would have heard a debate over whether the rights and protections that all other kids take for granted would be granted to them or not. This has the potential to make some question their self-worth and to encourage denigration, victimization and bullying towards them.
Already, the debate about the Religious Discrimination Bill is sending messages to LGBT children that their sexuality or gender identity is problematic and restrictions may have to be put on the expression of their sexuality or gender identity.”
If the transgender children overhear this debate about whether their rights are important, then this can negatively affect their mental health. I know that this can hurt my child if she overheard this. Already, she felt prejudice and lack of acceptance. This bill can harm her further.
When I hear about these bans against transgender children and adults, I feel sad for my child and for our future as a society. Why is it okay to discriminate against my child for something that she couldn’t control? Why is it okay to wage war against young children who want to play sports? Why is it okay to use my child and her friends as pawns in this political game? Don’t people realize that it will affect all children regardless of gender?
My child was born and the doctor told us that she was a boy based on her body’s characteristics. She grew up and realized she was a girl and told me. My husband and I supported her and followed her lead. This was coming from her. If I could, I would want her to be either a cisgender boy or girl because of the discrimination that we have faced. This is hard to be a mother to a transgender child today but kids should not be used as political pawns without any thought given to them being human.
If any other minority group was used this way today, there would be lots of people that would say how unethical this is. Yet, it seems okay to discriminate against my smart, beautiful daughter and her amazing friends. She is amazing, brave and strong. The outside thinks they shouldn’t exist or she should pretend to be a boy. She did pretend that she was a boy until she was able to tell me who she was inside. As I said, I did not want this for her. I thought that I was raising a gay son at the beginning. That was hard enough but I knew I would accept my child as they are and that they can be themselves with me. And, I didn’t understand that this was about gender identity and not sexual orientation. It’s about who she is inside, not who she likes.
I understand that transgender and nonbinary can be confusing to people who don’t understand. My family and I have felt lots of prejudice from family, community and schools. My daughter is not happy with her body (gender dysphoria). I need to have medical intervention to stop her from having the body of a man. Again, at every step, I am following her lead and working with professionals. If she wants to stop puberty blockers at some point and go through male puberty, I will follow her lead. If she wants to be a boy, I will help her. I am here to support her. This has not been easy on any of us. But, she is my daughter and I will do everything possible to help her be herself. That’s what good parents do. This is support, not abuse.
The quotes above are from the article below:
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/shelved-discrimination-bill-will-still-impact-lgbt