What types of discrimination are appropriate for religious schools?

[Dreamer]

#4094

What types of discrimination are appropriate for religious schools

My child is enrolled with a Christian school with a very conservative administration. I recently received an email inviting parents to sign an open letter put out by the ACL regarding the rights of religious schools to practice certain forms of discrimination. I do not support schools discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. However I do support their right to discriminate on some things. Including religious affiliation. For example I think it would be completely inappropriate for both religious and historical reasons, if a Jewish school was forced to employ a committed Catholic. Even though they might be a brilliant teacher and a wonderful person.

I would like to better understand what is and isn’t covered under existing right to discriminate legislation. I would also be interested in suggestions as to what my options might be for having my say on this complex issue.

I would also appreciate some discussion around what other people think would be appropriate boundaries for religious schools to have enough leeway to be able to perform their intended function without opening the door to undue or inappropriate discrimination.

[Anthony Venn-Brown OAM]

#4101

Welcome dreamer. You’re the first to ask a question here. As we are building the forum we will get on to finding some answers for you as soon as we can.

[RainbowChild]

#4110

Hi Dreamer. I have no knowledge on the regulations on rights to discriminate, but I personally wonder about what exactly the school proposes to discriminate against in the future. Could it be they are putting things in place should they discover that one of their staff is gay? In light of recent happenings I would suspect so. I may be wrong though. Maybe you could speak to someone at the school to gain information about the letter they are asking you to sign, and have things clarified.
I hope you find some answers to your query.

[Author]

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