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Why the Impending “Equality” Bill is a Cause for Alarm Modelled on legislation passed in Victoria last year, Alex Greenwich’s “Equality Bill” should be debated in the NSW Parliament in […]
Why the Impending “Equality” Bill is a Cause for Alarm
Modelled on legislation passed in Victoria last year, Alex Greenwich’s “Equality Bill” should be debated in the NSW Parliament in August 2024. This legislation threatens the basic legal rights of Christians to teach and counsel others through a Biblical understanding of gender and sexuality. Christians would do well to contact their local MP and raise these concerns.
From legalising public sex and soliciting prostitution in front of schools, to forcing religious schools to hire LGBTQI teachers, this bill seeks to further erode any Christian presence in society. Let me highlight the most disturbing elements of the legislation.
The Equality Bill seeks to repeal restrictions on prostitution from the Summary Offences Act 1988. In practice, this means the potential legalisation of:
Note that this is actually the last part of the bill, and is only a couple of lines. It is hidden from immediate sight. Here are some examples of legislation to be deleted:
The Equality Bill seeks to alter legislation from the Mental Health Act 2007 No 8. The alteration would potentially legislate that gender dysphoria is not a disorder or mental illness.
The Equality bill seeks to amend legislation from the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 No 157. The amendments potentially will allow children from 16 years old and up to make medical decisions (such as gender alteration surgeries) without parental consent.
The Equality bill seeks to amend many sections of legislation from the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 No 48. The Equality bill amendments will potentially seek to redefine sexuality. Previously, to have one’s sex changed, it would need to be formally altered under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 No 62. The proposed amendments would potentially redefine ‘sex’ as the sex a person is “thought to have”. This will make way for anyone to claim sexual discrimination, with no record of alteration of sex needed. The bill expands discrimination to many new areas, as explored below, based on this amendment.
The Equality bill amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 No 48 would potentially remove the freedom of private schools to not admit a transgender student, or to not hire a transgender teacher.
This could result in Christian parents hearing one day that their young, impressionable child now has a transgender teacher, and that they cannot protest this because it would be considered as illegal discrimination. Christian schools (and schools of other religions) should have the right to educate their students in an environment consistent with their religion. What other sins will Christian schools be forced to accommodate in the future?
The Equality bill seeks to remove clause 3:
The Equality bill amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 No 48 would potentially mean that males would be allowed to compete in women’s sports up to the age of 12, as long as the sport is not too physical, or part of a competition. These vague definitions potentially leave girls open to harm both physically and in terms of their ability and motivation to excel in sports.
The bill seeks to amend section 1 and 2 below as follows:
The Equality bill seeks to amend legislation from the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 No 80. If passed, the amendments would potentially make it “domestic abuse” to disclose a person’s sexual orientation, gender history, transgender related surgery, or that they used to work as a prostitute, without their consent.
The Equality bill seeks to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 No 48, potentially forcing people to turn a blind eye to trans-identifying people in the workplace. Some jobs, however, need to be done by women and some need to be done by men. For example, a woman could go to the gynaecologist or breast cancer clinic and a man claiming to be a woman could see her. She would potentially not be allowed to object and ask for a woman to see her instead, because that would be illegal discrimination. The employer is powerless to remedy the situation because that would also be discrimination.
The Equality bill seeks to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 No 48, potentially forcing women’s clubs to admit men who claim to be women (and vice versa). Women need their own spaces, just as men do. This legislation will potentially remove that right.
The Equality bill seeks to add 5 pages of new laws to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 No 48, potentially forcing everyone to turn a blind eye to a person’s employment history regarding prostitution.
The Equality bill seeks to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 No 48, this potentially forces religious bodies to turn a blind eye to sexual issues when employing people. A church, school or other religious body could no longer seek to hire a staff who are exemplars of Christian values.
The amended legislation would potentially amend exemptions in clause c) and d) as follows:
The Equality bill seeks to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 No 48, this potentially would force faith-based organisations to turn a blind eye to sexual issues in adoption services. For example, a man claiming to be a woman could adopt a baby girl. The Christian adoption service would not be able to say no, because it would be illegal discrimination.
The following legislation would be deleted:
The Equality bill seeks to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 No 48, this potentially would force schools to enshrine trans-type speech in documentation such as forms where gender needs to be disclosed.
The Equality bill seeks to amend the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 No 62. This would potentially create a new definition of a “Sex descriptor”.
Amendments would potentially allow a person under 18 to change their sex even if they have not had any medical procedure. No mention of parental permission is included.
The Equality bill seeks to amend the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 No 40. This will potentially increase government transgender diversity and inclusion targets, which could prevent managers from hiring the best person for the job, leading to a reduction in the quality of outcomes for the public.
This amendment would also potentially enable the government to use taxes for transgender surgery leave, which is an abuse of public money since many of the public do not support such surgery, and view it as harmful.
The Equality bill seeks to amend the Interpretation Act 1987 No 15. This would potentially alter definitions of gender to say that men can be pregnant.
The proposed ‘Equality Bill’ ought to be deeply concerning for Christians. It threatens the rights of Christians to practise their faith freely and help those who are suffering.
If you want to make a difference, contact your local MP and raise your concerns. If you want to find out more, Freedom For Faith — a Christian lobby group — have produced helpful resources which you can use as you prepare for a discussion with your local representative. You can find your MP here: https://contactyourmp.org.au/nsw-eq-timing/
– Rory O’Shea
