Bishop Michael Stead explained to David Marr in an ABC Late Night Live interview that Sydney Diocese does not want the laws that allow schools to expel LGBTQIA kids or only hire Christian teachers. The interview aired on October 1 _ here are some of the key passages.
David Marr asked: “Since we last spoke about this, which was seven years ago, how many gay kids have been expelled by Anglican schools in Sydney? 40 Anglican schools, I think it is. How many of them have expelled gay kids?
Bishop Michael Stead: “None.”
“So why do you so passionately insist on the right to be able to expel kids?“
“I’m really pleased to be with you tonight to be able to correct that. Because for a number of years we’ve been trying to make it very clear that we are not asking for that right. So let me say it very clearly. We are firmly of the view that the current exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act – section 38 is the relevant one – are way too broad.
“You are right, they give us the right, the legal right to sack teachers for being gay or expel students for being gay or trans or whatever. These are not rights that we want, as you have indicated. We haven’t expelled a student for being gay, to my knowledge.
“Certainly not since I’ve been engaged.”
“What would happen if you did?“
“There would be outrage in our school communities. And more than that, we recognise that our school communities are mixed communities. That is, we don’t expect that all the kids are Christians or seeking to live by Christian norms.
“So it’s one thing for me to say, if you’re a Christian and you want to follow Jesus, you need to follow his teaching on marriage, but we recognise that a lot of the kids are not following Jesus. And we’re much more focused on telling them about Jesus than we are on telling them how to conduct their sexual lives. So we met with the Prime Minister back in April of this year, again reiterating our position that we were very happy to see that section removed.
“And to be fair, we asked for it to be replaced with much narrower protections. And you might want to ask me a question about that.”
“I indeed will because they don’t look narrow to me. They look very vague and broad. But please go on.“
“So what we said, we don’t want these broad exemptions that are in 38. We try to articulate what it is that we actually want in relation to teachers and what we actually want in relation to students. We proposed amendments to the government in May; written proposals.
“And to this point, despite repeated requests, we haven’t had any official feedback from the government on those proposals.”
“Surely, your understanding must be that the government doesn’t want to touch this with a barge pole.“
“Yeah, we understood the government has walked away from it, but I want to be clear that we’re actually not satisfied with the status quo for the long term because we don’t like having laws on the books that say you can discriminate against gay teachers or gay students. That’s not our desire. And having laws that give us that permission enables people to perpetuate the myth that it’s something that we actually do.”
Marr and Stead continue, discussing what the Sydney Anglicans want to be able to enforce. Stead says a gay club would go too far. And chapel is something the schools insist on.
“If at the extreme, without any other kind of protections, it’s arguable that a gay kid could say, I experienced discrimination because you require me to go to chapel.”
“Well, if a kid doesn’t go to chapel, then you can deal with that, but…”
“No, no, no. If the reason why they won’t go to chapel is because they might hear a sermon from a part of the Bible that is offensive to them. But we have a general rule that says you’ve got to go to chapel.
“That will apply to all the other students, but a very small subset of students would be able to say, ‘Well, no, you can’t apply that rule to me because of the Sex Discrimination Act. This is indirect discrimination.'”
“And what action would you take against that student?”
“Well, we would say you have to come to chapel.”
“And if they don’t?”
“We would do what we would normally do with any student. We would say you have to come to chapel. We would involve their parents in a discussion.
And then we will say that if your child won’t come to chapel, you might need to take a short“take a short suspension while you consider the options. This was something was clearly explained when you came to school. There are no exemptions from the chapel.
“And if the suspension doesn’t work?”
“Again, we are not expelling the students. If they’re going to choose to box themselves into a corner and say, I’m not coming to school because I have to go to chapel, they’re choosing to absent themselves from the school. We haven’t expelled them.”
Meanwhile, in Southern Queensland
Jeremy Greaves, Archbishop of Brisbane, apologised in August to the “LGBTIQA+ people for the hurt caused by the Church.” The apology was endorsed by the Anglican Church Southern Queensland 2024 Synod. The two bishops’ statements sit at opposite ends of our Australian Anglican spectrum but possibly can be seen overlap in places.
The Anglican Church Southern Queensland, recognises and rejoices in the image of God as reflected in every human being, as expressed in people of every race, social circumstance, gender identity, and sexual orientation. We acknowledge the pain felt by sexually diverse and gender-diverse people who feel like second-class citizens because they cannot marry in the Anglican Church of Australia. We apologise to sexually diverse and gender diverse people for the times when we have not accepted that you are who you are. We have denigrated you. We have excluded you from baptism, holy communion, holy unction, and the community of the Anglican Church. The times when we’ve supported the criminalization of your sexuality. We’ve advocated for and or condoned the practices known as conversion therapy. We have isolated you and subjected you to mistreatment. And when we have not spoken up to protect you from violence and exclusion.
The Anglican Church, Southern Queensland, apologises to the family members and friends of sexually diverse and gender diverse people for the times when our treatment of your loved ones has hurt you. We have failed to grieve or celebrate with you over the challenges and achievements of the ones you love. The times when we’ve silenced or mistreated you, we undertake to pray together in humility and affirm our common humanity as we walk together in following Jesus Christ in our church. To recognise the diversity among us and the ministry of each person who volunteers and works in and for the Anglican Church, Southern Queensland, to listen to you, to stand with you against injustice and marginalisation, and to live into the expectations outlined in faithfulness in service and the being together document endorsed by this diocese about how we relate to one another as equal members of the body of Christ.