VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT GUIDE WARNS PARENTS: PRAYER MAY HARM YOUR CHILD

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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.

This is not a one-off. This is a government that hid gender transitions from parents in schools, spent $11.2 million on LGBTQIA+ programs while hiring near-$200,000 diversity bureaucrats, and is now telling faith-based families that their prayers are harmful. The Allan government has declared war on parents — and it is using our own money to fight it.

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.

This is madness, biological sex, the fact that God gave females two X chromosomes (XX), and males one X and one Y chromosome (XY), which determines their biological sex and determines their various genetic traits which cannot be altered is of no consequence. No wonder we can see the prophesied Biblical end times prophecies playing out in our day. Jesus needs to return not only to rescue Israel but to restore righteousness. I can also understand why Jesus and the glorified Saints need to rule with a “rod of iron” during Jesus Millennial reign. The curse is not lifted so people will still rebel even though Satan and his minions are not present. Is your church preparing you for what is next on God’s agenda for planet earth? I don’t think so so go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net.

VICTORIA ELEVATING NEW ANTI-VILIFICATION LAWS TO A STATE RELIGION OPPOSED TO CHRISTIANITY

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The Victorian State government (Australia) wants to expand its anti-vilification legislation to include a laundry list of additional attributes, including disability, gender identity, sexual characteristics, and sexual orientation. If such an expansion is passed, it will become illegal in Victoria to offend people who are disabled, trans, non-binary, or “sexually diverse”. Maximum prison sentences will be up to three to five years.

The legal thresholds for what constitutes vilification will be lowered. Currently, one must “incite hatred” to breach the law. Under the proposed changes, however, speech that is “likely to incite” will become a criminal offence. Under such a standard, almost all speech referring to those with protected attributes – regardless of intent or context – could be deemed criminal. This means journalists, writers, comedians, academics, artists and activists will all be open to prosecution.

This new orthodoxy operates on multiple levels. First, it holds that speech inflicts harm equivalent to physical violence, which means stringent controls must be placed on expression. Second, it establishes a hierarchy of moral authority based on perceived victimhood, where some voices are deemed more virtuous than others. Third, it promotes a series of dogmas about identity, privilege, and systemic oppression that brook no dissent. This means debate is off the table.

Melbourne’s beloved Midsumma Festival, which takes place from January 19 through February 9, 2020—during Australia’s summer—draws tens of thousands of participants from the Melbourne metro area, all over Australia, and, increasingly, throughout the world. The city’s Gay Business Association started the festival in 1988 to celebrate the Melbourne queer community’s arts and culture.

Like any religion, this belief system has its own heresies. Questioning the concept of gender fluidity, expressing concern about biological males in women’s sports, or suggesting that factors other than discrimination might contribute to disparities between groups – all these become dangerous utterances, potentially worthy of legal sanction.

Just as heretics once faced inquisitions for challenging church doctrine, today’s dissenters risk social ostracism, professional ruin, and potentially legal consequences for transgressing this new moral code. Victoria’s shift represents a fundamental reimagining of the role of government in a liberal democracy. Rather than serving as a neutral arbiter, protecting the rights of citizens who have equality before the law, the state is now becoming the enforcer of a particular worldview. It’s a vision where the government not only dictates what citizens can say, but what they must believe.

This will just intensify the persecution of Christians which fulfils one of the many Biblical prophesied end-times signs. It will also ensure Australia comes under the escalating judgement of God.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13

Taken from an article in The Australian by Claire Lehmann. She is the founding editor of Quillette online magazine.