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The booklet acknowledges parents may share their beliefs with their children, then immediately suggests that doing so could be against the law.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission has published a parenting guide that lists “praying with your child for them to stop being LGBTQA” among actions that “can harm your child” — placing Christian prayer alongside punishment and psychological pressure as practices families should avoid.

The booklet, Talking with your child about sexuality and gender identity, was released in 2025 and produced in collaboration with the Raising Children Network. It is framed as practical guidance to help parents support children who identify as LGBT or who are questioning their sexuality or gender.

The document also functions as a plain-language introduction to Victoria’s Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021 (CSP Act) — and warns parents of the legal risk of certain responses to their child.

Under “Things that can harm your child include,” the booklet lists: “praying with your child for them to stop being LGBTQA” and “sending your child to programs or therapies to try to convince them that they can stop being LGBTQA”.

Mike Southon, Executive Director of Freedom for Faith, warned the booklet relies on the same vagueness that has concerned religious communities since the CSP Act passed.

“Like the legislation, the booklet relies on ambiguous definitions of gender and sexuality and incredibly broad concepts of ‘harm’,” he said. It “appears to be an attempt to enforce their extreme ‘conversion therapy’ ban legislation and create fear and uncertainty amongst parents — especially religious ones,” Southon added.

What the Booklet Teaches

The guide advances the notion that gender identity is distinct from biological sex and that parents should affirm their children’s self-identity in all cases.

It defines non-binary, transgender, and gender-diverse identities without qualification, and instructs parents to ask their child “what pronouns and other language they would like you to use”.

On mental health, the booklet attributes distress experienced by LGBT young people primarily to external rejection rather than the condition itself.

“Being LGBTQA is not a mental illness,” it states. “But LGBTQA young people can experience mental health problems like anxiety, depression and self-harming. This is usually because other people have treated them badly.”

The booklet also acknowledges that parents retain the legal right to share their beliefs — then immediately signals legal risk. “As a parent you have the right under the law to share your personal beliefs and values with your child,” it states. “However, there are laws against doing things that could harm your child.”

Southon noted the tension: “It says that parents can teach their beliefs while simultaneously implying that such teaching is illegal.”

Prayer, Parenting and the Legal Landscape

Victoria’s CSP Act, which came into force in 2022, carries criminal penalties of up to ten years’ imprisonment for conduct found to change or suppress a person’s sexuality or gender identity.

The booklet informs parents that in some Australian states “it may be against the law for a parent, or anyone else, to send their child to any kind of program, therapy or counselling designed to stop them from being LGBTQA — even if their child agrees or asks to go.”

A multi-faith submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s 2026 focused review of the Act, signed by Catholic, Anglican, Jewish, Muslim and other leaders representing more than two million Victorians, argued the legislation “extends far beyond addressing these harmful practices”.

The submission documented a chilling effect on pastoral care and family conversations: “There has been a reluctance among religious leaders, parents and other caregivers to engage in this area, for fear of falling foul of the law.”

The submission asked directly whether a parent who adopted a “wait and see” approach to a child’s gender incongruence would be committing a suppression practice under the Act — a question the Act itself does not answer.

Resources and Direction

The booklet directs parents to a list of support services that includes the Royal Children’s Hospital Gender Service, Transcend Australia, QLife, and Rainbow Door.

No resources reflecting a biological-sex framework, a cautious clinical approach, or a faith-based perspective on sexuality are included.

The VEOHRC is the body responsible for receiving and responding to reports about conversion practices under the CSP Act. A focused review of the Act by the Victorian Law Reform Commission — required by the Act itself but overdue by two years — is currently under way, with submissions from faith communities, legal organisations, and others calling for narrower definitions and explicit exemptions for prayer, pastoral care, and parental guidance.

The Daily Declaration contacted the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission for comment.

The booklet is available on the VEOHRC website.

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