Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Let me share a heartbreaking story with you. I came out as a lesbian to myself, my closest friends and family members in 2010. At the time, I was working in a Christian school—I'd been there since 2005. Keeping my orientation a secret, whilst living my private life with my girlfriend, was very stressful. Hiding who I was, I ended up in hospital with cardiac issues later realising it was stress and anxiety. I worried I would be found out and sacked, given I knew I'd signed documentation stating that I'd be living my life in accordance with the Christian ethos and being gay was not allowed.

I chose to resign with no work to go to. I feared never finding work again. Months went by—and nothing. I was so desperate I went back to the faith based school to do some contract relief teaching, CRT. They were still unaware of my sexuality and happy to have me back. They even offered me a short-term contract which I accepted because financially I couldn't afford not to. The day before I commenced my contract, I was doing a day of CRT. After period 1, I was summoned to the vice principal's office. He had a very one-sided conversation with me where he stated that he had been made aware of my choice of sexuality and that I could no longer work there as what kind of message would that be sending to the school community? Then they essentially marched me off the premises. The most dehumanising experience I have ever experienced was to be told I couldn't work somewhere just because of who I am.

This devastating story, which has been shared with me, is the human cost of allowing religious schools to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex teachers and staff. It's unacceptable, it's wrong, it cannot be allowed to continue.

For LGBTQ Australians and our families, the last month or so has been a bit of a replay of this time last year. We were in the midst of the marriage equality postal survey. It has been a replay of the national debate, playing out again with politicians, media, commentators and lobbyists debating the rights of LGBTQ people in this country. It has been a replay in the worst possible way, in that once again who we are is being debated, who we are is being criticised, and who we are determines whether or not we deserve to live our lives free from discrimination.

Here we are again, almost exactly a year later, debating whether young LGBTQ people deserve to be safe and respected and debating whether young LGBTQ people deserve not to be expelled from their schools, separated from their friends, taken out of their studies and school community, simply for being who they are. And here we are again with the vast majority of Australians opposing this discrimination. An opinion poll showed that 74 per cent of voters oppose these laws that allow religious schools to select students and teachers on the basis of their sexual orientation, their gender identity or their relationship status.

The Greens support Senator Wong's bill before us today, the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Removing Discrimination Against Students) Bill 2018, to remove the ability of religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students. This is an absolutely essential and long-overdue reform. What's proposed in this bill parallels some of the measures to remove discrimination that were included in our Discrimination Free Schools Bill 2018, which we debated just a month ago. But this bill does not protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer teachers and other staff in school communities.

The Greens have circulated amendments that would remove the provisions in Senator Wong's bill that allow for the continuation of discrimination against teachers and other staff in the provision of education on the basis of their sex, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, their marital or relationship status or their pregnancy status.

As senators know, we have just considered these issues in our inquiry into the legislative exemptions that allow faith based educational institutions to discriminate against students, teachers and staff. In their submission to the inquiry, both the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Human Rights Law Centre made it crystal clear how simple the changes can be. First, the provisions in sections 38(1) and 38(2) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 need to be repealed. These sections act as a specific carve-out to allow discrimination in the employment of staff and contractors by educational institutions as long as that discrimination is in accordance with the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of a religion or is done in good faith to avoid injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherents of that religion.

Senator Wong's bill acknowledges that section 38(3), relating to exemptions for educational institutions in the provision of education or training, needs to be repealed to remove discrimination against students. We are simply proposing the same for staff and contractors.

Secondly, we are proposing to remove the new carve-out that Senator Wong is proposing in the proposed new section 37(3)(b). This provision highlights how legislatively simple it actually is to remove discrimination. Labor in fact have had to add a new provision into their bill that explicitly allows discrimination against teachers and staff. Labor's bill adds a new provision that explicitly allows discrimination against teachers and staff. By removing the ability of bodies established for religious purposes to discriminate in the provision of education, as Senator Wong does in proposed section 37(3)(a), these bodies would also no longer be allowed to discriminate against staff. It's only by adding in 37(3)(b), a clause that limits 37(3)(a), that bodies established for religious purposes will be able to discriminate if the act or practice is connected with the employment of persons to provide that education. Labor is adding discrimination in, allowing discrimination, not because people are failing in their jobs as teachers but simply because of who they are.

The Greens' amendments propose to remove this unnecessary, harmful and discriminatory clause. The changes we are proposing are minimal. They actually simplify the bill by removing the carve-out for discrimination in employment related to the provision of education. They are straightforward. They mirror the language and the mechanisms proposed by Senator Wong, and I call on this chamber to support them.

The Greens amendments will give every child and teacher in Australia the comfort to know that they will be respected and loved and treated equally, simply because of who they are, not because of some outdated legislation that sends a message, not just to them but to all people, that somehow the way they are is wrong or different. The Greens are here to ensure that this parliament does the right thing and ends discrimination once and for all in our schools—discrimination against LGBTQ students, discrimination against LGBTQ teachers and discrimination against other LGBTQ staff. We don't need any further consideration before removing discrimination. Schools should be discrimination-free zones for all LGBTQ people, regardless of whether they are students or teachers.

This is very simple. Our schools should be teaching our kids about respect and equality, not that LGBTQ people can be expelled or fired because of who they are. No school should be able to tell a young person who may be trans or gay or lesbian or bi, or still figuring out their sexuality or gender identity, that they're not welcome. There's no place for a school to tell a teacher who might be in a same-sex relationship or going through a gender transition, 'We're firing you from the job you love because of who you are.' It's not acceptable in our schools; it's not acceptable in any area of our community. Discrimination against LGBTQ people has no place in our society, full stop—no ifs, no buts.

This push to enable a school to discriminate on the basis of their religious ethos is nothing but discrimination wrapped up in a more acceptable word. We support religious schools' ability to teach in accordance with their religious beliefs, but to discriminate against people on the basis of their sexuality or their gender identity—yes, their very identity—is not religious ethos; it's discrimination. We don't want, 'don't ask, don't tell' in our schools. Underlying this desire to continue discriminating against LGBTQ people is the belief that same-sex-attracted and gender diverse people are broken and need fixing and that, at the very least, they must repress or deny their sexuality or gender identity if they are to continue being part of the school community.

I found evidence to us as part of our inquiry from Christian Schools Australia particularly chilling. They said:

We have got staff in our schools who have indicated to the school leadership that they're same-sex attracted, but they take the view that it's not what God's best plan is for them. It's a struggle they have, but they don't accept it, they don't try to live it out, they don't try to be or identify as gay. They're struggling with same-sex attraction.

  …   …   …

And we'd say, for those staff—

who are same-sex attracted—

that there are lots of other schools that they can seek employment in.

In other words, they have to deny their sexuality or their gender identity. They have to deny things about them that are intrinsic to who they are.

As anyone who's read the recent report of the Human Rights Law Centre and La Trobe University into LGBT conversion therapy and associated ideology in religious institutions and communities knows, attempts to convert people who are sexuality and gender diverse just don't work. These harmful attitudes, made acceptable to some in the guise of religious ethos, effectively destroy LGBTQ lives. I call upon these churches to recognise this, to acknowledge that they actually have devout people in their churches who are same-sex-attracted and gender diverse and to let them know that they are loved for who they are—not tolerated at best, and rejected at worst, and told there are lots of other schools they can seek employment in. The simple fact is that no student should be expelled and no teacher or other staff member fired just because of who they are. Freedom of religion should not be a licence to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

If we look to other countries that have similar legal systems and similar values and cultures, what do we find? We have Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. None of these countries have such broad based exemptions that allow religious schools the egregious ability to expel LGBTQ students, to fire LGBTQ teachers and staff or to tell lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people in their community that they are not okay, not welcome, not worthy of respect. Lo and behold, the sky in New Zealand hasn't fallen in. Canadian churches have not collapsed because they cannot tell LGBTQ people that they are not worthy of respect. Oh, and guess what? In Tasmania, their state laws mean that these exemptions actually don't apply, and faith based schools are coping just fine with not being able to expel LGBTQ students and fire LGBTQ teachers. There is no issue there.

The Greens have fought for year to change our laws and end this damaging discrimination. It's hard to believe that it has even been suggested that these discriminations have any basis for being upheld. Right now, these exemptions to Australia's anti-discrimination laws serve only to harm and to threaten LGBTQ people who attend and work at religious schools or who wish to do so. Labor's bill, as it stands, would condemn LGBTQ teachers and staff to continued, unnecessary and harmful discrimination.

Time and time again, LGBTIQ Australians have been treated like political footballs by conservative politicians and their supporters, who have put us in the firing line in order to shore up their conservative base. Well, I'm sick of hearing my community being talked about as if we're some kind of 'other'. I'm sick of my community being told that we are not worthy of respect, that we don't deserve to live our lives without discrimination. We can make this country a better and more inclusive place right now, but only if we work together to remove discrimination in our schools against all LGBTIQ people, whether student, teacher or other staff member.