The Catholic church showed real courage this week issuing advice to its schools to avoid sending kids for irreversible ‘gender affirmation’ treatments.

However, their advice may be in breach of the law in three jurisdictions, and political activists know it.

Ghassan Kassisieh, legal director at Equality Australia, told the Age newspaper the advice was a ‘begrudging acknowledgement by the bishops that community attitudes and laws in some states and territories are no longer on their side’.