4/17/2025 Australia (International Christian Concern) — On April 4, the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) began enforcing a new law criminalizing anti-conversion therapy, which now includes praying with someone about their gender or sexual identity and even encouraging abstinence for queer Christians.
On the website Anti-Discrimination New South Wales, a government body that administers and investigates anti-discrimination, it’s explained that “praying with or over a person with the intent to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identify is unlawful … even if that person has asked you to pray for them to be able to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identity.”
NSW’s Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 is part of a trend of laws that seek to outlaw “conversion therapy,” the clinical practice of forcibly changing someone’s gender or sexual identity. What makes the NSW law different is how broadly “conversion therapy” is defined beyond a traditional clinical setting.
In an interview with The Washington Stand, Arielle Del Turco, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council, said, “This is a terrible new law in this Australian state, and they aren’t even trying to hide it. According to the state government’s own admission from their website, this law will prevent a pastor or any believer from praying with someone who is asking for prayer for freedom from gender identity issues.”
This prohibition extends not just to private prayers and requested counseling from a pastor but also to statements made publicly during sermons. The NSW government webpage explains that “a religious leader preaching to or praying for their congregation” may be considered an illegal conversation practice if it’s determined there is “intention to change or suppress an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Another concerning feature of this law’s breadth is how far, geographically, it seeks to reach. According to the same NSW government website, people outside NSW who are praying or pastoring NSW residents online in a way that violates this law can be fined or face three years in prison. The maximum prison sentence for those within NSW who commit an illegal conversion offense is five years.
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