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The ‘Equality Bill’ to be debated on 8 February in the NSW Parliament seeks to make sweeping changes to the law. Here’s why it must be completely rejected.

On 8 February 2024, the New South Wales Parliament will debate Independent MP Alex Greenwich’s Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill (also called the ‘Equality Bill’).

A vote on the bill is guaranteed by 14 March.

Introduced into the NSW Parliament in August 2023, the bill proposes to make “more than 80 changes to 20 different pieces of legislation, including 52 amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act alone.”

The bill is 50 pages in length and will significantly alter the social fabric of NSW and Australia.

Recently, Rachel Wong CEO of Women’s Forum sat down with Sky News to explain why the so-called ‘Equality Bill’ undermines the rights of men, women and children.

Here’s why you should contact your local MP and tell them the bill must be rejected.

The Bill is Built Upon a False Worldview

The bill merely assumes that a man can become a woman, and vice versa. This is at the heart of this ‘self ID’ bill. In the view of gender ideology, biological sex is not a concrete reality – rather, a person’s self-proclaimed identity is.

This is a worldview issue – a question about the very definition of truth.

There is little point in engaging in the details of the bill if the central assumption – that biological sex/gender is fluid – remains unchallenged.

If the belief that gender (biological sex) is fluid were true, the bill would make some degree of sense.

If gender can be whatever a person wants it to be, why shouldn’t the law give people the ability to record whatever they want it to be on their birth certificate? If biological reality doesn’t determine gender, why not allow people to have medical and surgical procedures to align with their self-proclaimed truth? Why not allow biological males to play in female sports? Why have male and female sports divisions at all?

But the fact is that biological sex is not fluid. Both Scripture (Gen 1:27) and science affirm there are two genders: male and female.

As a result, the ‘Equality Bill’ is nonsense – and our parliamentarians need to understand that and vote accordingly. The bill is built upon a false faith/belief.

If you start your thinking in the wrong place (as this bill does on the assumptions of gender fluidity), then you will end your thinking in the wrong place.

Five Areas of Concern

Freedom for Faith lists the following five areas of concern:

1. Slash religious protections for churches and schools
2. Allow people 16 and over to change their sex on their birth certificate at any time
3. Allow children to bypass their parents to get medical treatment (including puberty blockers)
4. Remove restrictions on prostitution
5. Legalise and support commercial surrogacy

Let’s look at each point individually.

1. Slash religious protections for churches and schools

Currently, the law provides protections for Christian schools. Christian schools in NSW can hire staff that uphold their beliefs, including on sexuality and gender.

If the Equality Bill were to pass into law, these protections would be removed. Christian schools would be forced to adopt a false secular worldview.

It would be the end of Christian schooling as we currently know it. As one law professor put it, the proposed bill “would radically undermine the freedom of religious groups to operate in accordance with their faith”.

The bill is designed to target Christian institutions that don’t toe the gender ideology line. Equality Australia – which is advocating for the bill – explicitly focuses its attention on “private educational institutions” (meaning Christian schools) and “faith-based organisations”.

2. Allow people 16 and over to change their sex on their birth certificate at any time

What is the effect of changing the legal record on a person’s birth certificate? This means that organisations, such as workplaces, schools, sporting clubs and local community groups, must accept a person’s gender identity (their ‘self ID’). To not do so will be considered unlawful discrimination.

The bill also proposes that children aged under 16 can “apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to have a record of the person’s sex altered if the person’s birth is registered in New South Wales” (see page 5 of the bill).

The application of a child under 16 needs to be “accompanied by a statement from a person who has provided counselling to the applicant” (page 20). Any counsellor with a gender-fluid worldview, who believes a child with gender dysphoria will be psychologically helped by changing the sex on their birth certificate, will of course endorse that request.

Parents will have no right to object to their child seeking to change their biological sex. All NCAT will be required to do is “give notice about the application to each parent or other person with parental responsibility for the applicant” (page 20).

However, NCAT must not notify the parent(s) if “making the notification could reasonably be expected to adversely affect the applicant” (page 20).

3. Allow children to bypass their parents to get medical treatment (including puberty blockers)

The Equality Bill proposes that a “young person may make a decision about the young person’s own medical or dental treatment as validly and effectively as an adult” (page 29).

If parents do not consent to a ‘medical treatment’ – such as sex-change surgery and puberty blockers – all that is required is that “the child consents and, in the opinion of the medical practitioner or dentist who is to administer the treatment… the child is capable of understanding the nature, consequences and risks of the treatment” and “the treatment is in the best interests of the child’s health and well-being” (page 29).

In other words, a child believes it is in his or her best interest to go onto puberty blockers. If a medical doctor agrees with the child, this satisfies the requirements of the law. It will be illegal for parents to object or intervene.

4. Remove restrictions on prostitution

The bill will not only decriminalise prostitution but offer it protections in the law that no other occupation enjoys.

The clear message is that the use woman’s body can be sold for money – and that it should have the highest protection in the law.

It is the objectification of women in the extreme.

Sadly, the bill is opposite to the proven ‘Nordic model’ that has helped women in Sweden and Norway escape prostitution.

5. Legalise and support commercial surrogacy

The proposed changes “will encourage the commodification of vulnerable women as wombs for rent and children as products for sale”. The new changes will encourage commercial surrogacy of women in developing countries – in situations where women can be at the greatest risk.

Oppose This Bill, Otherwise, It Will Make Things Far Worse

Words and definitions matter. If sweeping changes to the definition of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are allowed to pass into law, the rest, as they say, will be history.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee from the Government (Labor) or Opposition (Liberal/Nationals) that they will oppose it.

Freedom for Faith has developed an outstanding webpage called contactyourmp.com. As well as providing accessible information on the bill, it allows you to find your local MP and write to, email or phone them. All you need to do is put in your postcode to find your local MP’s details.

In addition, this summary sheet is very useful for what to include when contacting your MP.

Use your voice to speak against the bill while you still have the chance. The future of men, women and children depends on it.

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Photo by Following NYC.