Month: October 2016

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Freedom of Religion and Balancing Clauses in Discrimination Legislation

An article of mine on “Freedom of Religion and Balancing Clauses in Discrimination Legislation” (2016) Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, doi: 10.1093/ojlr/rww045, has just become available. Those who are interested can download it from the Oxford website here.

The law moves quickly in this area- the article notes the Ashers Bakers case but when it was written the appeal had not been handed down. For those who want an update on that decision it is available in my previous post, “The Ashers “Gay Cake” appeal- one of these things is not like the others” (Oct 25, 2016). The criticisms of the trial decision I make in the article are still applicable to the unsatisfactory appeal decision, which I hope will be overturned if taken on further appeal.

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The Ashers “Gay Cake” appeal- one of these things is not like the others

When our children were watching Sesame Street one of the regular clips featured the song “one of these things is not like the others“, training children to look carefully and make distinctions where things are different. In a case involving Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal has shown that it is not very good at making distinctions between things that are different.

The case is Lee v McArthur, McArthur & Ashers Baking Co Ltd [2016] NICA (24 October 2016). (Thanks to the always helpful Law and Religion UK blog for the link to the official report. There is an “official summary” available here which is a bit shorter.) In the decision the Court of Appeal equates the decision of Christian bakers not to supply a cake, the sole purpose of which was to bear a message which they disagreed with on religious grounds, with a decision of a business to discriminate against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation. In my view they have confused things which are quite different to each other.

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Legal implications of same sex marriage for Christian life and ministry

I was privileged today to present a paper on issues from a Christian perspective raised by the possible introduction of same sex marriage, at a seminar on the topic held at the Lower Mountains Anglican Parish centre at Glenbrook. For those who are interested (and the paper is of particular relevance to Christians, so others may not find it so helpful), the longish paper can be downloaded from the seminar website here. I understand there may be a video of the presentations available at a later stage on the same website. The other speaker I was honoured to share the platform with was Dr Peter Jensen, who gave a terrific overview of marriage as a social phenomenon and the Bible’s view of marriage.

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Draft Australian Same Sex Marriage legislation unveiled

Today the Federal Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, released an Exposure Draft of the legislation that would, if it were to pass the Federal Parliament, introduce same sex marriage to Australia- the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill. There is a good summary of the provisions of the legislation in a press release issued by the Attorney-General. This follows the introduction on 14 September 2016 of an enabling Bill to allow a plebiscite, a popular vote, on the matter to be put to the Australian public, the Plebiscite (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill 2016. That Bill has not yet received any substantive consideration by the Parliament.

Earlier today the leader of the Australian Labour Party Opposition, Bill Shorten, announced that his Party would be voting against the enabling Plebiscite Bill when it reaches the Senate: see “Same-sex marriage: Plebiscite would harm gay and lesbian people, Bill Shorten says” (ABC News). It seems clear, at least if all the cross-bench members who have indicated their intentions maintain those intentions, that the Bill will be defeated in the Senate.

The ALP and the Greens will presumably now be urging the Government to put its legislation directly to a Parliamentary vote. The Government, however, has steadfastly maintained that it went to the recent Federal election with a promised plebiscite as the only route to introduction of same sex marriage, and that if there is no plebiscite, the matter will have to be dealt with by some future Government after the next Federal election. 

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Some of Victoria’s “inherent requirements” amendments may be unconstitutional

The Victorian Government introduced the Equal Opportunity Amendment (Religious Exceptions) Bill 2016 into its Parliament on 30 August 2016. It has passed the Legislative Assembly without amendment, and is presently before the Legislative Council. The Bill proposes the amendment of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) to make it more difficult for a religious body to claim that it is not “discriminating” when it declines to hire, or fires, someone whose behaviour or convictions is contrary to the ethos of the body. The amendments introduce an “inherent requirements” test which must be satisfied in order for such an action to be viewed as falling outside the prohibition in the legislation on detrimental treatment based on “religious belief or activity, sex, sexual orientation, lawful sexual activity, marital status, parental status or gender identity” (the “Victorian prohibited grounds”).

I have commented in a previous post as to why I think this is poor legislation from a policy perspective.[1] In that previous post I briefly noted that an argument could be made that some of the amendments, at least, would be unconstitutional. Since that previous post I have looked into the area further and am fairly sure that this is the case. Here I want to develop the case a bit further. 

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