Teachers could be sacked unless they ‘model the Christian lifestyle’ by adhering to strict views on gender and marriage

Christian schools in Victoria are threatening to fire teachers if they don’t abide by strict views, such as “God created two genders, male and female”.

Victorian schools are making teachers sign contracts requiring them to “model the Christian lifestyle” and sacking them for not adhering to strict views on gender and marriage.

Teachers at Ballarat Christian College are threatened with termination in their workplace agreement for failing to abide by the school’s statement of faith that says “God created two genders, male and female”.

It states there are “no other God-given gender definitions or expressions” and that a “marriage should only be between a male and a female”.

A Victorian teacher, Rachel Colvin, recently took legal action against the school, claiming she was forced to quit after refusing to abide by a statement against same-sex marriage.

Teachers are being made to sign contracts requiring them to ‘model the Christian lifestyle’. Picture: AAP

A committed Christian, Mrs Colvin said she believed same-sex marriage had the same potential as heterosexual marriage to be a reflection of God’s love.

Teachers at five Seventh-Day Adventist schools are also forced to abide by workplace agreements acknowledging that grounds for dismissal includes engaging “in a lifestyle that is in conflict with the moral and ethical standards of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church”.

Lobby group Christian Schools Australia is calling for such contracts to be protected by federal laws allowing religious educational institutions “to employ staff in accordance with their beliefs”.

It comes despite new Victorian laws that restrict religious discrimination in employment only to positions where religion is an inherent part of the job.

Protesters marching in Melbourne against religious discrimination laws. Picture: AAP

Federal legislation that would have protected existing religious-based hiring and firing practices were not passed by the last parliament.

Lutheran schools do not discriminate against staff based on sex or gender, but their most recent agreement states that teachers must “exemplify and model the Christian lifestyle”.

Other schools, such as Plenty Valley Christian College and St Andrews Christian College, expect teachers to abide by statements of faith establishing that a person’s gender identity must match their biological sex “as designed by God”.

Mark Spencer, director of public policy at Christian Schools Australia, said his organisation

“supported these types of provisions as Christian schools want to be open and transparent with staff around the expectations involved”.

“Staff within a Christian school serve as role models, mature Christian leaders for the students, within a Christian learning community, and are expected to hold beliefs consistent with those of the school, and live in a manner consistent with those beliefs,” Mr Spencer said.

“We will be expecting the Albanese Government, when it introduces Commonwealth protections for religious discrimination, that it will ensure that these protections cannot be undermined by State or Territory governments.”

Ghassan Kassisieh, legal director at Equality Australia, said these examples “highlight the need for urgent reforms to federal laws to set a nationally consistent standard protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination, and to prevent Victorian schools like this from acting in flagrant disregard of state law”.

“There is a limit on the extent to which any reasonable employer can direct who you can love, what you should believe, or who you should be, when these matters are not relevant to your ability to do the job required of you,” he said.

“Outdated carve-outs in our federal laws and patchy protections in states and territories across Australia, currently allow religious schools in many places to expel, fire or discriminate against a students and staff because of their sexual orientation or gender identity”.

Equality Australia supported Mrs Colvin, who settled her case with the school.

Other Christian secondary colleges, including Kildare Ministries’ schools such as Killester College and Methodist Ladies’ College outline broader, more inclusive statements that emphasise the importance of the “values of openness and tolerance” and freedom of religion.

Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission general counsel Emily Howie said faith-based organisations could make employment decisions based on religious beliefs, but she said the discrimination must be “reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances, such as when recruiting a religious studies teacher”.