No Exceptions

At the end of 2020, South Australia's Attorney-General proposed changes to the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 SA. The Equal Opportunity (Religious Bodies) Amendment Bill 2020 sought to clarify that essential service providers, including religious schools, cannot rely on religious exceptions to justify discrimination. To inform a submission to the draft Bill, South Australia's Commissioner for Children and Young People created an online tool to ask young people about their thoughts on the...
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At the end of 2020, South Australia's Attorney-General proposed changes to the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 SA. The Equal Opportunity (Religious Bodies) Amendment Bill 2020 sought to clarify that essential service providers, including religious schools, cannot rely on religious exceptions to justify discrimination. To inform a submission to the draft Bill, South Australia's Commissioner for Children and Young People created an online tool to ask young people about their thoughts on the experience of LGBTQIA+ students in religious schools, and what they believed would make schools more inclusive for LGBTQIA+ students. LGBTQIA+ students reported that they feel unsafe in school environments, and that adults often don't show them the respect or protection they want or need. Non-LGBTQIA+ students confirmed that they witnessed discrimination against LGBTQIA+ students on a regular basis and that they found this worrying and unacceptable. This report captures those responses and makes recommendations for making schools more LGBTQIA+ inclusive.