Australian Court OKs Foster Parent Discrimination

As a helpless Anglophile, one might think that I would have some fuzzy feelings toward Australia. At the very least, I must have some sort of sisterly connection. Here we are, the offspring of a once mighty British Empire. Only they got to keep the parliamentary system and English spelling.

But I never felt the same affection for Australia as I felt for, say, Canada. Mostly it’s because I don’t want to deal with the risk of death every time I put on my shoes. (Also, don’t steal the name Oz. I live in Oz. Do you have a Tin Man or a Wicked Witch or a Cowardly Lion?)

Because I have not pinned all my irrational hopes for Utopia on Australia, one would not assume that I could feel utterly betrayed by this island continent. And yet, here we are.

On December 27, the Daily Telegraph reported that a decision made by the New South Wales Administrative Decisions Tribunal says, in no uncertain terms, that the law allows religious charities to ban gay foster parents. The tribunal reversed an original decision that ordered Wesley Mission – the church in question – to change its policies and pay the gay couple AUD 10,000. But this decision was overturned because the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Law provides broad exemptions for religious practice.

If you’re like me, you find this massively annoying. Go ahead and deprive innocent children of loving homes! As long as God says it’s O.K.

The tribunal, in overturning the initial decision, went so far as to say the broad religious exemptions “may be a matter which calls for the attention of parliament.” Unfortunately, that’s probably not going to happen.  Same-sex couples are legally allowed to adopt, and the New South Wales Department of Community Services says that there are plenty of opportunities for gay and lesbian couples to act as foster parents.

This so clearly misses the point. It’s not that gay and lesbian couples can’t act as foster parents for this particular organization (although that is a big deal). It’s the systematic devaluation of gay and lesbian families. What gives anyone – let alone so-called religious people, with that “judge not, that ye be not judged” stuff – the right to do that?

I struggle with this kind of issue all the time. I don’t want to live in a world where people can’t be spectacularly, flagrantly, and, yes, even cruelly, wrong. But how much do I have to accommodate bigoted actions based on bigoted beliefs?

It turns out that, maybe, in order to live in the kind of world I want, I will have to accommodate a lot. But that doesn’t mean I have to shut up. Join me in asking Wesley Mission to start accepting gay and lesbian foster parents.

I realize the hypocrisy in asking this request. I live in the United States, where few states explicitly allow same-sex adoption (my home state of Real Oz has not spoken on the issue at all). But we could use a good example, set by our lovely sister to the south.

Photo credit: Steven Damron