The
Catholic Church
is now
the largest private employer in Australia.
-
The Church's vast networks of schools,
hospitals and social service organizations are funded by hundreds of millions
of dollars of public money.
|
-
The Church demands - and gets -
total exemption from all anti-discrimination legislation. This means the
Church can legally refuse to employ an openly gay, lesbian, bisexual or
transgendered person in any capacity whatsoever - as a doctor, a teacher,
a counsellor, a nurse, a youth worker, a gardener, a builder, a cleaner,
a truck driver...
|
-
The Church has a record of summarily
sacking gay employees if their sexuality becomes public knowledge. It aggressively
defends its legal exemptions and has ignored judgements and recommendations
of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
|
-
The Vatican has officially stated
its support for civil discrimination against gay people in areas like housing,
spousal rights, and certain types of employment such as teaching, athletics
coaching and the military. It is claimed that this is "not unjust discrimination".
|
-
Internationally, Church leaders
and organizations have called gay activists "the shock troops of the Culture
of Death", spent hundreds of millions of dollars opposing same-sex marriages,
lobbied the United Nations and the European Parliament to resist calls
for gay rights, claimed gay relationships "undermine the fabric of society",
and consistently opposed safe-sex education.
|
|
