26th July 2025
News, Articles and Events from the University of Divinity community
Join us for the next Wollaston Research Seminar on Monday 15 September, either in-person at Wollaston Theological College campus, or online via Zoom.
In Australia, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts (SOGICE, often known as “conversion practices,” “conversion therapy,” or “ex-gay”) is banned in most states. In the jurisdictions where it is yet to be banned, those objecting to such legislation often frame their resistance in in terms of freedom – viz. individuals (usually, though not always, people of conservative religious faith) can and should be able to consent to practices that purport to change their sexual orientation and gender identity to conform to the requirements of their sincerely held beliefs. However, research demonstrates that some conservative Christian churches may operate as “greedy institutions:” that is, groups able to command high levels of participation and loyalty. Often, LGBTQ+ people in such greedy churches may not be overtly coerced into SOGICE, but are subjected to symbolic violence – the threat of losing their place within tight-knit communities, barriers to ministry opportunities, and even the eternal consequences of hell. This, I argue, constitutes a de facto coercion, one which results in marginal populations experiencing spiritual harms. The fact that this symbolic violence effectively removes consent by compelling acquiescence to such practices is the reason legislation banning SOGICE must be enacted – there is no such thing as consent to these spiritual harms, and therefore they must be prohibited.
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