Months later, Ms. Doyle is still looking for a job.
While some states currently protect students against discrimination, Tasmania is the only state in which it is illegal to discriminate against a teacher based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Despite the government panel’s recommendations, 74 percent of Australian voters oppose laws that allow religious schools to discriminate against students and teachers based on their orientation or identity, according to a recent poll.
On Wednesday, a letter signed by 47 gay, transgender and intersex organizations called on the government to end discrimination. “Teachers should be focusing on educating their students, not worrying about losing their job,” the letter said.
While the debate on the government’s proposal has largely focused on Christian schools, the same exemptions apply to all religious educational institutions (and in New South Wales, to all private schools).
In Melbourne’s Orthodox Jewish community, a teacher reported losing her job after revealing she was transgender. And gay Muslim students in Australia often face homophobia, bullying and even violence, say leaders in that community.
Nur Warsame, the first openly gay imam in Australia, who runs Marhaba Melbourne — a support group for gay and transgender youth — said he feared that the government’s report has opened “the floodgates” for hurt and discrimination in the name of religion.
Even if the laws are amended, discrimination and bullying remain a serious issue for the L.G.B.T. community in Australia. Gay, transgender and intersex people between 16 and 27 years old are five times as likely than the general population to attempt suicide in their lifetimes, according to figures from the National L.G.B.T.I. Health Alliance. Another recent study found that gay conversion therapy, a practice widely discredited by science, is still employed at churches around the country.
Source : Nytimes
