GAY TRUTH

Expecting Catholic school employees to abide by long-standing Catholic morals will be added to the legal understanding of “discrimination,” if a case currently before the Alberta Human Rights Commission succeeds against Calgary Catholic School District. At issue is the district’s language in teacher contracts that holds them to “Catholic values,” particularly a “lifestyle and deportment in harmony with Catholic teaching and principles.” The Calgary Herald reports that Barb Hamilton, a former principal in the district, is one of two people suing over the requirement; another teacher has chosen to remain anonymous. Hamilton has filed her human-rights complaints on “marital status, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation” grounds, Catholic News Agency reports . “Their perspective is I resigned and my perspective is I wasn’t given a choice,” she claims. “Relationships that would be acceptable are those recognized by the Catholic Church, that have to be acknowledged by a Catholic priest...

LABOR, THE GREEN & LGBT ZEALOTS WANT TO DESTRY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS AND THE CHURCH IS NEXT Senator Wong (lesbian), leader of the Opposition in the Senate, has introduced a Private Senator’s Bill aimed at removing the power of religious schools to discriminate against same-sex attracted students. Unfortunately, the amendments do much more than stop schools expelling students on the basis of their internal sexual orientation (a goal all sides of politics agree on.) They will have a serious impact on the ability of such schools, and other religious bodies, to operate in accordance with their religious beliefs. A more nuanced approach is needed. Background The background to these proposals can be found in previous blog posts  here ,  here  and  here . In short, the  Sex Discrimination Act  1984 (Cth), s 38(3) , currently allows faith-based “educational institutions” to provide education in accordance with their religious framework, by making it ...

LGBT ZEALOTS VIA LABOR AND THE GREENS   WANT TO DESTROY RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS, CHURCHES CHURCH AGED HOME For those following the debates about proposed amendments to discrimination laws removing religious freedom from faith-based schools, the LNP Government has now tabled a number of amendments to  the ALP Bill  released earlier this week. While these amendments are a move in the right direction, there are still some serious concerns about their effect on religious schools and their ability to operate in accordance with their religious beliefs. The Government amendments can be seen on  this page  as separate documents. I will aim to briefly outline the effect of the amendments. I will assume readers are familiar with the  ALP Bill  discussed in my previous blog. 1. Deleting new s37(3) An important amendment, numbered  KQ147 , deletes the part of the ALP Bill which adds news 37(3). That provision is one that I highlighted in my previ...

The head of the Presbyterian Church in Australia has warned Scott Morrison that the ability of religious schools to insist on separate uniforms, sporting teams and toilets for boys and girls will be open to legal challenge under a government plan to outlaw discrimination against gay students. John Wilson, the Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church, has provided The Australian with an extract of a letter sent yesterday to the Prime Minister. It reveals widespread concern among religious schools teaching 300,000 students about the un­intended consequences of legislation aimed at better protecting gay students from discrimination. The Coalition and Labor are trying to repeal an exemption in the Sex Discrimination Act that allows religious schools to discriminate against students on the basis of their “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”. The exemption is rarely used for this purpose but is one of the only legal protections in federal law for faith-based educators. Anglican ...

As foreshadowed in the press reports noted in my previous post , the ACT Government has now introduced a Bill designed to curtail the current religious freedom enjoyed by religious schools in the Territory to operate in accordance with their beliefs. The Discrimination Amendment Bill 2018 (ACT) is an unwise proposal and it is likely that it would be invalid as contrary to Commonwealth law. I will assume the reader is familiar with the background to the Bill as noted in my previous post. Here I will just briefly indicate how it achieves its goals. The central provision is cl 6, which simply repeals s 33 of the Discrimination Act 1991 . That is the provision which at the moment allows religious schools to choose the staff whose lifestyle is consistent with the school’s religious framework, and to implement student policies which also do so. While the stated purpose is to remove the ability of schools to select or deal with staff or students based on their sexuality, in fact, it remov...