Religion and the Rights of Others

For the LGBTQI+ Community and especially the younger members of that community the appalling actions of the Federal Government in Canberra this last week must have been distressing as if we had gone back to the bad days of the same sex marriage debate. What made it worse was that the reason for this Bill being debated was not just because of the belief that there was an issue with freedom of religion but it was also seen in rank political terms as a way to try and wedge the opposition party on this issue in the lead up to the Federal Election.

It was a cynical political exercise where the Prime Minister and his fellow travelers gave no thought to the distress and harm this debate would do to the mental well-being of trans youth. Again it showed, if you still needed any evidence, that our Prime Minister is an empathy free zone and only has eyes for the next election. The fact that after his Bill was changed in the House of Representatives that he pulled it from the Senate shows the abject cynical nature of the man. All this after it had taken three years for this to end up in Parliament.

This however hides a greater issue and that is creating a law which deliberately institutionalizes discrimination. Government should be at arm's length from any religion. A deep and abiding faith is no excuse to discriminate against others and it should not be cheered on by our political classes. You don’t enhance the freedom of one group by jack booking over the freedoms of another. There are, I believe, many religious organisations that also disagree with the Prime Minister and see no reason for this proposed legislation and it is in fact the more extreme elements of evangelical Christianity that are driving this divisive course of action. They lost the same sex plebiscite and with an almost manic sense of vengeance are pushing this discrimination as a form of concellation for missing out on stopping same sex marriage. The fact that some religious folk can say or publish statements like “being gay is linked to pedophilia” and then hide behind their abiding faith is appalling. Let’s hope this legislation never sees the light of day again and that we change the Federal Sex Discrimination Act to abolish any discrimination based on religious beliefs. We are no longer living in the Middle Ages.