The Victorian Parliament's upper house will debate and vote on the Change or Suppression (conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill this Thursday.

Change or suppression practices (also known as conversion practices) are those which are directed at an individual in an attempt to change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity.

With no evidence to suggest sexual orientation or gender identity can be changed, the practices can be extremely harmful.

The bill, which was informed through consultation with survivors, LGBTQIA+ support and religious organisations, passed the lower house in December 2020. It denounces conversion practices as deceptive and harmful and seeks to ban them.

"The Bill aims to clearly communicate that change or suppression practices are not tolerated or supported by the Victorian community in any form," a statement on the government's website says.

"It aims to ensure that Victorians are able to live their lives authentically with pride, and makes it clear an individual's sexual orientation and gender identity are not "broken" and do not need to be "fixed".

The new laws would include a civil response scheme established through the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to support survivors who have endured these practices and would also allow the body to investigate incidents where there is evidence of serious or systemic practices aimed at changing or suppressing sexual orientation and gender identity.

Criminal offences would also be introduced- people who subject others to conversion practices that cause injury or serious injury could receive up to 10 years in jail.

Meanwhile, anyone who takes or arranges for a person to travel from Victoria for the purpose of conversion practices which cause injury could face up to two years in jail.

Advertising change or suppression practices will also be banned and could incur a maximum fine of almost $10,000.

Ballarat resident Sage Akouri, who identifies as non-binary, is a survivor of conversion therapy.

Born in Lebanon, and with some family already here, their immediate family migrated to Melbourne when Mx Akouri was nine-years-old.

"When I was around 14 or 15 my family found out I was gay. My mum often asked me and I never answered her with the truth despite having a girlfriend at the time," Mx Akouri said.

"I was too afraid because my family were strict and conservative Arabs who had grown up believing that being gay was a sin that brought shame to the family. They were also very religious at the time."

When their mum finally found out the truth, Mx Akouri's parents did "everything they could" to change them.

"Part of that process was taking me to an Arab doctor whose purpose was to 'cure' me from my evil thoughts and put me back on the 'right' path.

"I was a vulnerable 15-year-old who already felt as though there was no room for who I was in society - having my family take me to a place like that just reinforced those feelings."

During the one-on-one therapy, the doctor told them that liking girls was a sin and they would "end up in hell".

"He told me that it was not natural and that by the end of his 'treatment' I would go to my family and tell them that I am changed, or 'cured' of this sin."

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Mx Akouri said the 'treatment' caused them "a great deal of psychological stress and trauma", which they continue to carry around today.

"I can say with confidence that the conversion practice definitely did more harm to me and caused me to run away from who I was and be ashamed of my identity which in the end left me very isolated. This also caused my mental health to decline severely."

Mx Akouri began to self-harm at 16 and was severely depressed.

"My first attempted suicide was when I was 19. I believed that I did not belong in this world and that who I was would never be accepted. Luckily, that narrative has changed today after many years of therapy with supportive psychologists and counsellors."

About three years ago, aged 26, Mx Akouri came across the term 'non-binary'.

"I then knew that I had finally found the term to describe my identity. For most of my life I knew that I didn't fit the stereotype of a 'girl' and that I was always different to my peers. I never felt like I fit it until I discovered the queer (LGBTQIA+) community."

In 2018, they made the decision to medically transition - not long after publicly 'coming out' as non-binary.

"Since then I have had top surgery, which is a surgery to remove your breasts, and I have also been on testosterone."

Never wearing a top at the beach or around the house in summer, they vividly recall the devastation when they could no longer do that after reaching puberty.

"I never really understood what that meant for me. I knew I wasn't a girl but I also knew I wasn't a boy and I wasn't quite sure what to do with that as there was no terminology familiar to me to describe my identity.

"Because of the conversion therapy and other punishments I received for being gay, I suppressed my identity and essentially who I truly was for as long as I could. Because of this, I didn't begin transitioning until I was 26.

"Had I been properly supported, I would have started my medical, social and legal transition much earlier on. This would have had a huge positive impact on my mental health growing up."

They said conversion practices caused life-long trauma by enforcing that something is wrong based on who a person loves or how they identify.

"We are valid as individuals and as a community and there is nothing inherently wrong about being who you are.

"I would have done anything to hear those words when I was younger, maybe then my life would have been a lot different and I wouldn't be carrying around the debilitating trauma caused by people who thought they could 'fix' me."

Mx Akouri's mother, Leila Elakouri, said sending Sage to that doctor was a "decision made out of ignorance and will forever be a decision [she] regrets".

While living in Melbourne for most of their time in Australia, Mx Akouri has worked in LGBTQIA+ advocacy and the youth sector for the past four years.

They worked with Equality Australia campaigning for equal laws for LGBTQIA+ people in Australia.

Recently moving to Ballarat, where they work for Cafs and are studying a Bachelor of Community and Human Services, they are also starting their own organisation which aims to create inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA+ people in Victoria.

While awareness of LGBTQIA+ people and their needs has increased in recent years, Mx Akouri believes there is still much that needs to be done to protect the community.

"For example the Religious Discrimination bill will cause extreme harm to our community and instead we should be creating legislation that protects LGBTQIA+ people in the workplace, in schools and when accessing services. We should not be made to feel as though we are a target simply for being who we are."

Last week, flyers were dropped in letterboxes across Ballarat. The flyers, "designed and distributed by concerned community members and parents", state that if the bill passes then it will "seriously restrict parents' rights".

One of the points for why the bill should not pass is that parents seeking advice about their child's identity would be illegal.

In small print it states the flyers were authorised by the Australian Family Association, which has also created an online petition seeking signatures in support of the bill to not go ahead in its current form.

Ballarat resident Jay Morrison was "distressed and angry" when he went to collect his mail and found one of these flyers in his letterbox.

Speaking with other members of the LGBTQIA+ community, he learnt that the flyers had been dropped all over Ballarat - from Ballarat North to Sebastopol and Golden Point.

He said the flyers had deeply upset the community, with many feeling they were manipulative, deliberately spreading misinformation and an attack on the LGBTQIA+ community.

"It is hurtful that there are people in our community who are distributing these flyers right across Ballarat."

For many, seeing the flyers has brought up "really traumatic previous experiences where they experienced practices that either tried to force them back into the closet or suppress who they are," Mr Morrison said.

"We know that's not possible and that causes damage and it's just really upsetting when you have that thrust upon you."

Mr Morrison called on all of Ballarat's community and civic leaders - including councillors and MPs - to support the LGBTQIA+ community to feel safe and equal by "condemning the bigotry that people are receiving in their letterboxes".

"Most people in the community agree that we don't need to change or suppress who we are.

"They should be coming out and saying that the Ballarat community doesn't stand for this kind of bigotry and misinformation and that LGBT people in Ballarat should be supported for who they are."

The Australian Christian Lobby is one group which has vocally opposed the bill, which it has described as "the most dangerous and draconian bill we have ever seen in Australia".

In a media statement, it lists concerns ranging from bans on prayer to parents teaching children their biology, teaching Biblical views about sexual orientation and gender identity being punished as family violence.

In a statement, ACL managing director Martyn Iles said:

"If the Premier's 'change and suppression' bill merely banned so-called 'bigoted quackery,' then nobody would stand against it.

"The Premier's rhetoric is extreme and insulting because the Bill quite clearly bans perfectly innocent conduct by Victorians, including parents who want what's best for their kids."

It has also started a petition, which has been signed by more than 20,000 people.

A fact sheet written by the government states that the bill will not ban discussions with a religious leader about understanding or exploring sexual orientation or gender identity or prayer unless it is used to change or suppress sexual orientation or gender identity.

Views or opinions expressed about the issues will not be banned, nor will discussing or sharing religious teachings about sexuality or psychological counselling for children with gender dysphoria.

Anna Brown was involved in writing a report with Latrobe University when she was at the Human Rights Law Centre, that told the stories of survivors of conversion practices for the first time and how profoundly damaging the experience could be.

It demonstrated that the practices were pervasive in Victoria - not just in the cities but also in regional areas and helped to spark the formation of the bill.

Now the Chief Executive of Equality Australia, she hopes the bill will be supported in Parliament.

"No law can fix a complex social problem like this on its own but this legislation would be a great step towards ending the profound and lasting harm caused by LGBTQIA+ conversion practices.

"From consent-based facilitation, investigation and enforcement action by the Equal Opportunity Commission to criminal penalties for serious injury, this legislation provides a range of avenues to prevent harm and bring perpetrators to justice."

Acknowledging that Ballarat has strong religious groups, she said it was also a community very supportive of marriage equality and with a vibrant LGBTQIA+ community.

"For the most part Victorians peacefully coexist and accept one another for who they are and that includes their faith, sexuality and gender identity

"For the sake of quite vulnerable young (LGBTQIA+) people across Victoria we absolutely need to stamp out these deeply harmful practices that have profound and lasting consequences for lifetimes and tragically, can often end in suicide."

She has been "shocked and disappointed" to see the level of misinformation being spread about the bill by some who oppose it.

Ms Brown said it was a "sensible law" that established a framework for dealing with cases where a person is injured as a result of conversion practices, by making it a criminal offence.

The definitions of injury and serious injury rely on the definitions in the Crimes Act 1958 and the severity of the injury and the fact it was caused by the change or suppression practice would need to be established beyond reasonable doubt.

"The statements from the Christian Lobby and others are not only wrong but I think they're a desperate attempt to make this bill about something else and are seeking to protect those who would seek to abuse LGBTQ people and there's no excuse for abuse under any circumstances.

"I think for communities like Ballarat, when you have seen the history of that breach of trust between the church and the general community, we need to make sure the trust we place on religious leaders is well-founded and we can trust them not to harm and abuse people under their care."

Wendouree MP Juliana Addison said she was proud to support the legislation in the Legislative Assembly last year.

"This bill will protect people from harm and put an end to extreme practices that can be damaging, dangerous and dehumanising.

"I wholeheartedly believe that everyone should be respected and accepted for who they are, be able to be true to themselves and be supported in how they identify.

"The notion that someone can be or needs to be cured or fixed from being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or queer is wrong. These views won't be tolerated in Victoria, and neither will change or suppression practices."

Ms Addison said the flyer distributed around Ballarat had been distressing for many and was not representative of the community.

"There has been a lot of scaremongering, but this bill is not going to ban or affect prayer or religious teachings in schools, homes or religious institutions unless that activity is directed at specific individuals with the intention of changing or suppressing someone's sexuality."

It is understood the bill, to be debated and voted on in Parliament on Thursday, will most likely pass with support from the Animal Justice Party's Andy Meddick, Reason Party MP Fiona Patten and the Greens' Samantha Ratnam.

However a local MP who will be part of the debate on Thursday, Western Victorian MP Stuart Grimley, a member of the Justice Party, will "not support the bill in its current form".

"As a party which was formed to advocate for the protection of children, we obviously do not support conversion practices.

"However this Bill goes far beyond addressing conversion therapy and could potentially limit access to medical assistance, disregards an adult's consent and discriminates against those who seek support through means of their choice.

"As such, we will not be supporting the Bill in its current form. However we do note there are several amendments to be proposed by the Opposition and other parties, and we will consider those individually on their merits."

If the bill passes, there will be a 12-month period before it begins so implementation work can be completed. This will be led by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

The Australian Family Association was contacted for comment.