Devout Christians awarded damages after their application to become foster parents was rejected

A Western Australian tribunal has found a Christian couple was discriminated against when their application to foster a child was rejected over their view that homosexuality is a sin.

Key points:

• A Perth couple whose application to become foster parents was rejected has been awarded $6,000 in damages
• The foster agency, Wanslea Family Services, rejected the application due to the couple's views on same-sex relationships 
• They are members of the Free Reformed Church which is described as being on the 'conservative end' 

Byron and Keira Hordyk applied to become short-term foster carers in 2017 through Wanslea Family Services, a not-for-profit association contracted by the state government to assess foster carer applications.

During the application process, the Hordyks shared their views that, according to the seventh commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”, sexual relations can only occur between a man and a woman who are married and that same-sex relationships were sinful.

They told Wanslea Family Services that, in the event a foster child in their care was found to have kissed a child of the same sex at school, they would tell them they were loved but the behaviour was sinful and must be resisted.

Their application to foster was rejected.

The couple challenged the decision in the State Administrative Tribunal, arguing they had been discriminated against, due to their religious beliefs, under the Equal Opportunity Act. Academic and Anglican pastor Mark Durie told the tribunal that the Hordyks' church, the Free Reformed Church at Baldivis, was on the “conservative end”. 

At the tribunal, the pastor confirmed that the church understood the bible’s seventh commandment to prohibit sexual relations outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. “In my opinion, the FRCA upholds a conservative position on human sexuality, and a conservative biblical hermeneutic, which regards homosexual sexual relations as sinful,” the pastor wrote in his report to the tribunal. 

A minister from another branch of the FRCA, Dr Wesley Bredenhof, explained to the tribunal that members of the FRCA hold to the historic Christian understanding of marriage, sexuality and gender.

“This being that marriage is a life-long relationship between one man and one woman; all extra-marital sexuality is contrary to the Bible. Homosexual lusts and behaviours are contrary to the Bible and that there are two fixed genders or sexes, namely male and female.”

Foster agency concerned by 'rigid' views.

Wanslea Family Services said the couple were not considered to be competent to be foster carers because they expressed a degree of “rigidity” that was not consistent with the emotional safety of a hypothetical foster child. The organization attempted to argue that rigidity on gender and sexuality was not based on the religious convictions of their church, but rather their own personal position. The organization was simply biased against the Christian faith and Christian moral values.

As an excuse, to justify their decision, Wanslea pointed to the fact that not all Christians considered homosexual relations to be problematic, mostly biblically illiterate Christians hold such a minor view.

However, the tribunal found the Hordyks’ belief in their interpretation of the seventh commandment — that homosexuality is “sinful” — was a genuine religious conviction. The court ordered Wanslea to pay Mr and Mrs Hordyk $3,000 each in damages. It also ordered the organisation to change the Hordyks’ assessment from “assessed not to meet competencies” to “application discontinued”.