Charlotte was stood down for two weeks, effective immediately, and not allowed to attend the school campus unless for a prearranged meeting. She was told to treat the matter with “appropriate discretion” and invited to provide a written response within seven days.
In her reply to the school, sent a week later, Charlotte described the “profound joy” she experienced daily as a teacher at the Christian college. “I truly cherish every moment as I am able to combine my passion for music education with the opportunity to express my faith,” she wrote.
“In the classroom, I have cultivated a strong rapport with our students, and it warms my heart to hear them declare on a daily basis, “Music day is my favorite day”, with such enthusiasm and sincerity.
“My private life does not and needs not inhibit my professional life. My social media is set to restricted access, and neither parents nor colleagues can view anything I share there.
“I can’t express the enormity of the emotional toll it has taken on me to find out that one parent has witnessed a post, then shared it amongst the parent chat groups over the holidays like gossip. The effect that this has had on my mental health is significant and I am now seeking therapy to process the lack of dignity and respect shown.
“I uphold the values of Christ and [the school] – I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and it provides for me a guiding doctrine and practice.”
Nine days after her response, she received a termination letter. “The recent developments in your circumstances place you at odds with the doctrines and teachings of the College and with the expectations we hold for all our staff to align with the College’s doctrines and beliefs,” the principal said.
“I have formed the view that this places you in breach of the conditions of your employment as set out in your employment contract. Subsequently I regretfully advise you that your employment with the College is terminated, effective immediately.”
Religious discrimination reforms shelved
Charlotte is the latest teacher to lose her job under a special exemption in the Sex Discrimination Act that allows students and staff to be expelled or fired from religious schools because of their gender identity or sexuality.
Her case will add to the pressure piling on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to scrap the rule.
Labor promised to protect students before the last election and, in March, the Australian Law Reform Commission weighed in on years of debate to say schools should be stripped of their right to discriminate against LGBTQ students and staff.
But Albanese has since shied away from the issue and threatened to shelve the government’s planned changes unless he could guarantee Coalition support, citing fears about a toxic debate. This is despite progressive crossbenchers and the Greens urging Labor to work with them instead to amend the law.
Many faith-based schools have argued they don’t discriminate against LGBTQ students, claiming there’s little evidence to show they do. They say their priority is hiring staff who reflect the religious beliefs of their community. LGBTQ advocacy groups, however, have surfaced several examples of discrimination and said the special exemption must be scrapped without delay.
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Asked on Tuesday whether the planned changes were “dead”, Albanese said: “Well, the Coalition have received a copy of the draft legislation. We await a response.”
Charlotte – who requested that the college not be named, to protect the school community – was fired in the three months since Albanese put the changes on ice.
She admitted she always thought she could lose her job one day. “It [the statement on sexuality] is in my contract. So I wasn’t under any illusion as to what their viewpoint of homosexuality was,” she said.
“But I am a Christian, I’m a person of faith, and my sexuality was never part of my professionalism and never came into my classroom. I wasn’t trying to be deceitful to the school. I just wanted to do my job and I know I do a darn good job of it.
“Every single person that knows me, knows how much I loved that job and how passionate I was about that.”
She said the meetings with the school principal made her feel like she should be ashamed of her sexuality. But she became most emotional when she learnt her students’ choir performance would be cancelled and she would not be able to say goodbye to them.
“I’m very passionate about my choirs and that’s probably the first moment in that meeting that tears leaked out,” she said. “It affected my mental health greatly. I’m a very positive, upbeat person, but I was grieving hard.”
The right to discriminate
The major pushback against scrapping the special exemption in the Sex Discrimination Act has come from religious schools. The Coalition, which has not yet said if it will work with Labor to pass legislation, has backed their concerns.
While the Law Reform Commission recommended a path forward that would allow schools to preference teachers of faith when hiring staff where relevant, religious groups said this did not go far enough and would not allow them to maintain communities of faith.
Mark Spencer is the director of public policy at Christian Schools Australia, which represents Charlotte’s former school. While he was not aware of the specifics of her case, he said that the way the school acted was exactly what parents would expect. “Our schools are clear on what they are and what they believe. The staff member accepted she was outside their belief,” he said.
“Many schools might take a different position and there are different schools this teacher could teach at, and in the current climate she wouldn’t have trouble finding a new job. We look at how rights are balanced under international law, and for the employee, there is other employment available. For the school, if they don’t have staff who share those beliefs, it becomes plain, vanilla, where our schools are no different to government schools.
“All we’re looking for in changes to the law is to continue to be able to teach what we believe, to hire and fire, if we need to, staff who don’t share those beliefs, and to be the authentic Christian schools that parents are choosing.”
He said sexuality was an example that people focused on, but not the only issue. “Staff have ceased working for schools based on heterosexual activity or different applications of the Bible to life. It’s a subset of a much larger issue around ensuring our staff reflect our beliefs,” he said.
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“Not everyone has the same beliefs and that’s OK. There are various beliefs across Christianity, and there are places for this teacher to work where she’s better fit.”
But Charlotte disagrees. “Their line was: we can’t let them get rid of this clause because if they do, we can’t hire Christians any more. But if this law was abolished, it said you may still hire people of faith to build your faith community,” she said.
“I agree that a religious school should be able to hire Christians. The whole point of a religious school is it’s a place of faith, and you’re teaching faith to the kids as well as all the outcomes. I think that’s a healthy thing.
“But the thing is, my values do align with the school’s values. I am a person of faith; I have a very strong faith. My sexuality isn’t my value. My sexuality is who I am. That’s not a value, that’s me. [This exemption] should not exist.”
The chief executive of Equality Australia, Anna Brown, said Charlotte’s experience was shocking and unacceptable to most Australians, “but sadly not surprising”.
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“While the government waits to introduce its bill there are people being fired because of relationships that are legal under our laws and have nothing to do with their work. There are parents who can’t enrol their children in local schools and kids too scared to be themselves because they fear being expelled, bullied or denied opportunities,” she said.
“Actions like this do not represent who we are as a country and what Australians believe is a fair and just way of treating people, especially children and young people. The government made a commitment to fix this at the last election, and it’s time they made good on their promise to all Australians.”
*Name changed to protect identity.
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