The May 18 Federal Election could change the very character of Australian society. While there is much debate in the media about economic issues, there has been very little comment about the social agenda contained in the Australian Labor Party’s 302 page long policy document.
The ALP policy document is freely available from the ALP website, but given its size, few voters will take the time to read it. A quick reading reveals that the ALP has fully embraced the radical LGBTQI political agenda. The term sexual orientation appears 19 times. There are 55 mentions of intersex. The term LGBTI is used 44 times. The term Queer occurs 16 times and transgender 35 times. The terms lesbian, bisexual, gay occur 29, 30 and 28 times respectively. Transphobia and biphobia get mentioned twice. Surprisingly, homophobia only occurs 3 times. Gender occurs 100 times, including 21 mentions of gender identity.
The ALP has taken a big risk in embracing the LGBTQI agenda so wholeheartedly, as it will alienate many of their supporters in the ethnic communities. Historically, Labor supporters in ethnic communities have been socially conservative. But it seems that the ALP no longer wants to accommodate the wishes of conservative voters.
Among the policies that will disturb socially conservative voters is Labor’s commitment to embracing the Yogyakarta Principles, which include removing gender from government documents, such as birth certificates, drivers licences etc. Labor is also committing to funding a variety of gender ideology promotion programs in schools, which teach among other things, that gender is fluid, and that no one can tell a child whether they are a boy or a girl; that is up to the child to decide what gender they want to embrace. The Safe Schools program that caused so much controversy and which the Liberal Government defunded, will be re-instituted under a Labor Government. It seems Labor is determined to indoctrinate children with this ideology. The problem that parents face is that unless they can afford private schooling for their children, they can not prevent their children being exposed to this ideology, which results in many children suffering from gender confusion. Labor has also committed to requiring LGBTQI content in all sex education courses in schools.
In seeking to win the LGBTQI vote, Labor has committed to fully funding sex change operations and hormone therapies that a person needs to live their life as a gender different to their biological sex.
One of the hallmarks of the LGBTQI movement is that it will not tolerate anyone who disagrees with their view of the world. Activists have repeatedly taken people to anti-discrimination tribunals, simply for expressing a view that is different to theirs. Archbishop Porteous in Hobart found himself hauled before the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination commission, simply for issuing a booklet to parents that outlined the Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage. Jason Tey, a photographer in Perth, found himself before the Equal Opportunity Commission for simply telling a person inquiring about his services, that he did not agree with same sex relationships.
Currently the federal Sex Discrimination Act exempts religious bodies, including religious schools from its provisions. The Greens for a long time, and now Labor, are determined to remove these exemptions, which will make it virtually impossible for religious schools to maintain their religious ethos, as they would not be able to require teachers to model the faith that is taught and embodied by the school community. The removal of these exemptions even creates the question whether they could continue to teach the traditional understanding of human sexuality. Christian, Muslim and other faiths consider same sex acts to be morally wrong, but whether this could then continue to be taught is under question. The Labor policy states that religious belief should not be the basis for discrimination. These aspects of Labor policy should be of grave concern to people of faith.
If Labor wins the Federal election, it will be seek to implement these radical social policies with the help of the Greens, who have long advocated for such changes. It is pleasing to see that the Australian Christians, the Australian Conservatives and the Liberal Party do not support these society changing policies.
The choice that voters make at this Federal election will have far reaching consequences for generations to come.
