Catholics say religious schools should be able to discriminate against trans students

Catholics say religious schools should be able to discriminate against trans students
Image: Image: Facebook / Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has submitted recommendations to Ruddock’s review of religious freedoms calling for the protection of bakers, florists, and photographers to object to servicing same-sex weddings.

The recommendations also call for faith-based employers to have stronger legal protections in refusing to hire openly gay staff, according to a report by The Australian.

In its 33-page submission, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher claims that religious schools should retain the right to ban LGBTI sex education and be able to stop trans students from wearing uniforms or using toilets that align with their gender identity.

The submission states that there has been a “shift” in attitudes towards religious people.

“For all its talk of tolerance, there are powerful influences in our culture less and less tolerant of religion,” it says.

“There is now a more hard-edge determination to minimise the role of faith in everyday life and exclude it altogether from the public square.

“Examples abound of this lack of tolerance for a religious worldview during the recent marriage debate.”

The submission says section 38 of the Sex Discrimination Act should be strengthened to allow a faith-based school to discriminate in employment on the basis of a person’s sexuality or gender identity.

Ruddock’s inquiry, which will hand its findings to the Turnbull government by the end of March, was established during the marriage equality debate.

A petition was recently handed to the inquiry by LGBTI advocates calling for the repeal of all anti-discrimination exemptions that allow LGBTI people to be sacked or refused service by religious schools, hospitals, and welfare agencies.

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3 responses to “Catholics say religious schools should be able to discriminate against trans students”

  1. “For all its talk of tolerance, there are powerful influences in our culture less and less tolerant of religion,”
    And it didn’t occur to him that this is a reaction to the lack of tolerance shown by religion, the same intolerance he aims to continue

  2. It’s way past time that the Catholic Church can make demands to discriminate against anything or anyone. The Church has been exposed as being rather less than what they present themselves to be. Fisher has not even begun to recognise the position his Church is in.

  3. Well there you have it folks. The Catholic Archbishop has confirmed what I suspected – the ONLY religious freedoms the Catholic Church is railing for are to discriminate against gay and trans folks, and of course also to protect paedophile priests from being mandatorily reported.

    These so-called traditional marriage devotees DON’T support the right of catholic bakers to say no to divorced remarrying couples. So imagine a staunch catholic baker having to bake a cake for philandering family-breaker Barnaby Joyce in a couple of years despite the heartache he has caused his own catholic family despite the Vatican opposing such a marriage.

    They don’t want real religious freedom, they just want to say no to gay and trans folks.

    They are some sick fucks. At least they admit it I guess.