Politics

Gay Teachers Are Already Being Sacked – And The Religious Discrimination Bill Will Make It Worse

"I really enjoyed the colleagues and the relationships with students, but in January this year, the school fired me. And they fired me because I'm gay."

by Lavender Baj 29 November 2021

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A school teacher has publicly called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to do more to ensure LGBTIQ teachers and students are protected under the proposed new religious discrimination bill, asserting that she lost her job because of her sexuality.

The new bill was introduced to Parliament on Thursday and seeks to protect Australians who “make statements of belief” from the discrimination laws currently in place on a state level. While there’s a caveat that bans statements that “threaten, intimidate, harass or vilify a person or group,” many are concerned the bill doesn’t go far enough to protect the LGBTIQ community from targeted hate and unfair treatment under the guise of religious belief.

In Thursday’s episode of Q+A, audience member Stephanie Lentz alleged she had been fired from her job as an English teacher at a Christian school in Sydney earlier this year after coming out. Lentz, who is a part of the LGBTIQ community and a member of the Anglican faith, didn’t specify which school she was allegedly fired from.

“I worked at a Christian school teaching English from 2017 to 2019 and I loved it,” Lentz said. “I really enjoyed the colleagues and the relationships with students, but in January this year the school fired me. And they fired me because I’m gay.”

She added that the school didn’t believe she could hold her religious faith and embrace her sexuality. “They fired me because they disagreed with me that you can be Christian and also live true to the biological realities of your sexuality or gender,” she said.

How can we ensure a balance between a person’s faith and beliefs without denouncing another person’s identity? #QandA pic.twitter.com/2jVG9VGCyr

— QandA (@QandA) November 25, 2021

Lentz also clarified that she had no issue teaching the school’s religious content. “I had offered to promote the school’s ethos on sexuality,” she said. “Obviously, notwithstanding things that I believed would be harmful to the students, but I did offer to back the school’s position on a lot of things.

“However, the school wasn’t willing to engage in debate on that and terminated my employment because of my sexuality and my belief that it’s OK to be gay because God is cool with it.”

Lentz isn’t the only person who alleges they were sacked for their sexuality. Earlier this year Karen Pack told ABC that she was sacked by Morling College for being gay. Pack alleges that she was fired after a member of the public sent an email to the school calling her a “lesbian” who needs to be “denounced immediately.”

However, the school alleges it was Pack who decided to end her employment because she could “no longer adhere to a key Morling value” — that marriage is between a man and a woman.

“I responded by saying, ‘Look, I’m very happy to affirm that marriage is between a man and a woman, that that is a sacred and a beautiful thing. I have no problem affirming that. What you need to understand is that’s not the limit of what I affirm. That’s not the only thing that recognises and reflects the beauty and the sacredness of God’,” she said. “And they accepted that, and were happy to have me sign the contract and continue on staff.”

The Religious Discrimination Bill Will Make This Wrose

Under the proposed new legislation, religious schools could give “preference” to people who align with the school’s faith. While this doesn’t explicitly give them the power to discriminate against LGBTIQ people, schools could simply give preference to the alternative candidate, even if they were less qualified.

According to the Explanatory Memorandum, which sets out examples of how the bill would be utilised in normal daily life, there are ways in which LGBTIQ teachers could be — legally — sacked.

As per the EM, a Muslim teacher hired at an Islamic school could be fired for converting to a different religion, provided the school clearly outlined its policy on only hiring within the religious group.

This example “would not be unlawful if the actions conform to the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teaching of Islam, or was done to avoid injury to the religious susceptibilities of Muslim people”.

There’s obviously no denying these sorts of issues are already prevalent in society today. But as it currently stands, LGBTIQ teachers fired for their sexuality have pretty decent grounds for discrimination, which would go out the window the second this bill passes.

So, while we’re already seeing religious education institutions outwardly discriminating against people based on their sexuality before this law passes, it will only get worse if the Morrison Government gets its way.