GAY TRUTH

Today the Rev the Hon Fred Nile , for the Christian Democrat Party, introduced a Bill to add “ religious beliefs or religious activities” into NSW legislation as a prohibited ground of discrimination. The proposed  Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms) Bill  2018 will add new Parts 3B and 5A into the  Anti-Discrimination Act  1977 (NSW) (“ADA”), making it unlawful in various areas to discriminate on the grounds of religion, or to subject religious bodies to a detriment. The proposals will also make it unlawful to penalise someone for holding views on marriage as the union of a man or a woman, or for holding the view that there are only two genders. The CDP is a minority Party in the NSW Parliament, and the Bill is a Private Member’s Bill , so it is not clear whether it will be fully debated, let alone enacted. But it is an interesting and worthwhile proposal which may lead to clarity in the future on the need for changes to the law of NS...

A retired pastor has been barred as a marriage celebrant because he won't marry same-sex couples. Auckland pastor Barrie Baker, 65, is one of 22 people barred from becoming marriage celebrants in the past 15 months because they refuse to do same-sex marriages . Family First director Bob McCoskrie says the rejections breach their rights under the Bill of Rights Act to "freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief". "It's coercing and it's bullying," he said. But the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Jeff Montgomery , said independent marriage celebrants were bound by the Human Rights Act not to discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation. Labour MP Louisa Wall 's marriage equality bill, which legalised same-sex marriages in 2013, exempted celebrants nominated by a church or other approved organisation whose "religious beliefs or philosophical or humanitarian convictions" do not allow sa...