REDUCING legal and social discrimination based on gender or sexual identity is the aim of an $850,000 policy package announced by the Greens yesterday.
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Greens leader Nick McKim said the policy aimed to create equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex Tasmanians by pushing for law reforms like marriage equality, a removal of forced divorce laws for trans men and women and a ban on reparative therapy for anyone under the age of 18.
It also proposes $600,000 over three years in LGBTI awareness programs for schools, police, health workers and the community, as well as contributing $250,000 to continuing the LGBTI grants scheme.
Mr McKim said he had heard personal stories of reparative therapy, where a person receives psychological therapy in an attempt to alter traits like same-sex attraction, "happening quite recently" in Tasmania and the practice should be banned for minors.
"We don't believe that there should be even the possibility in Tasmania that children should be subjected to things like shock therapy and other psychological interventions to address a problem that someone else thinks they have got," he said.
Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesman Rodney Croome said the legal obstacle requiring a married couple to divorce if one of them comes out as trans and wants to change their legal gender identity was an issue in a number of states.
"What our current marriage laws are doing is forcing people to divorce - that's hardly upholding the sanctity of marriage," he said.
Greens Franklin candidate Zoe Kean said LGBTI equality might not be an election priority for all Tasmanians, but for those affected it was the most important issue.
"To me and to anyone who is affected by these issues it is of the utmost importance ... to every single aspect of our lives, and affects how comfortable we are to enter the workplace and how comfortable we are to complete our education," Ms Kean said.