Page 298 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 2018
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the overwhelming majority of Australians in a vocal and joyous celebration of marriage equality. The road to marriage equality was one of ending discrimination and promoting social inclusion. The government’s August 2017 submission on marriage equality legislation, which was signed by the Chief Minister, the minister for justice and me, made that very clear. Our joint submission this week to the commonwealth’s expert panel on religious freedom is a firm and vocal restatement of this government’s commitment to inclusion.
Marriage equality was not a barter. Neither the ACT nor Australia voted “yes” on the basis that in exchange for equal marriages, broad anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTIQ community would be rolled back. But that is precisely what some opponents of marriage equality are now suggesting: that, under the guise of religious freedom, we should repeal longstanding anti-discrimination measures.
Religious freedom is important, and it is enshrined in both the ACT Human Rights Act and the Discrimination Act. As I stated in the Assembly last year in support of maintaining the ACT’s existing protections, it is important to recognise that our private religious practices operate in a social context.
There are some expressions of faith which maintain that it is inappropriate for females to have positions of authority over males in their institutions. We have not legislated, and we will not legislate, that this cannot occur within those congregations or denominations; nor do we have any intention of allowing caterers to refuse to supply goods to an organisation on the basis that their CEO or potentially their CPO is a woman.
There are some expressions of faith which maintain that it is inappropriate for previously divorced people to marry. We have not legislated, and we will not legislate, that this cannot occur within those denominations, and I am fully aware that religious celebrants regularly exercise their rights under the Marriage Act to refuse to conduct these ceremonies. But we do not have any intention of allowing people to refuse to supply goods to couples who are celebrating a second marriage following a divorce.
Canberra is a community that values human rights, including religious freedom. We reject a vision of religious freedom that endorses discrimination and exclusion. There is no room for discrimination against people on the grounds of their religious conviction. There is also no place for discrimination on the ground of a person’s sexuality in the public provision of goods and services to same-sex couples getting married or to anyone else. The right to freedom of religion is neither greater nor lesser than the rights to equality and protection from discrimination.
The government’s position in the submission to the expert panel reviewing religious freedoms is strong in its message: the federal government must not simply replace inequality in marriage with inequality in the provision of goods and services. Any federal legislation that would lock in discriminatory practices, like denying goods and services to anyone based on their sexuality, their race, their gender or indeed their religion, would contravene the ACT’s Human Rights Act; and, more than that, would contravene the values of the Canberra community.
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