Updated 18th April 2024
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM BILL - WITHDRAWN
Just-Equal Australia supports the notion of ensuring religious freedom, but we oppose any legislation that seeks to enshrine religious privilege.
Legislation to protect people of faith from discrimination should be a shield and not a sword.
The Bill which was drafted by the Morisson Government, offered people of faith extraordinary privilege to discriminate against those they don’t like. This would have overwhelmingly been to the disadvantage of LGBTI people, but also to women, people with disability, unmarried couples, people from minority faiths and more. It was the biggest attack on anti-discrimination protections in our nation’s history and it grew out of religious opposition to marriage equality in 2017.
Freedom of religion does not mean having the right to discriminate against others in the name of religion.
Just-Equal was educating the public and lobbying federal MPs on the nasty elements in the Bill and urging them to vote against it. In September 2021, we sent a 12 page brochure to every MP and senator spelling out the four (4) main areas of harm that would be caused if the Bill passed.
After tireless advocacy and lobbying by groups including Just.Equal, this draft law was withdrawn.
Read our brochure here
Updated 18th April 2024
CENSUS INCLUSION CAMPAIGN
The 2021 Census excluded LGBTIQA+ people, which served to perpetuate the invisibility of a significant part of the population. The addition of three simple questions would solve that, allowing problems like stigma, discrimination and lack of services to be better addressed.
Just.Equal presented petition to the Parliament asking:
In the 2026 Census we want to see
- A separate question on sexual orientation
- A separate question on gender identity
- A separate question on variations of sex characteristics
The ABS has since committed to counting LGBTIQA+ people in the Census.
Updated 18th April 2024
SAVING CLARA'S OAM - PETITION
Dr Clara Soo wrote to the Governor General surrendering her OAM after discovering Margaret Court was set to be elevated further than her AO to Australia's highest honour. Clara is outraged that the Honour's Council would promote such a divisive campaigner against the inclusion and equal access to law.
Our petition called on the Governor General to review the standards and processes of the Council so that we reserve our greatest honour for Australian role models for us all. Dr Clara Soo shouldn't have to return her Order of Australia.
The petition raised the following concerns that:
- having already been made an Officer in the Order for her contribution to sport, Margaret Court has received an additional honour;
- this additional honour comes after years of attacks on the rights and dignity of LGBTIQ+ Australians;
- these attacks have been divisive and harmful, and have diminished our nation rather than made it more equitable and inclusive;
- worthy honours recipients like Dr Clara Tuck Meng Soo feel so dishonoured by Margaret Court's addition award they have returned theirs.
We called on the Governor-General and the Council of the Order of Australia to immediately review the honours system so that equity and inclusion are key values in determining recipients and so that worthy recipients like Dr Soo feel able to retain their honours.
This petition was presented and is closed..
Updated 18th April 2024
TASMANIAN CONVERSTION PRACTICES - PETITION
We had an opportunity to contribute to the campaign to make conversion practices unlawful in Tasmania
- Conversion practices continue to occur in Tasmania.
- These practices create profound distress, trauma and harm to those they are inflicted on, and have resulted in self-loathing, self-harm and suicide.
- A new law against conversion practices will have a positive impact on preventing these practices and the ideology behind them.
The petition is closed and was presented and Just.Equal continues to work with Tasmanian advocates to ensure the state adopts gold-standard legislation against conversion practices.
Updated 18th April 2024
Religious Freedom Law - petition
This petition is closed and was presented.
Only 1% of Australians say protecting religious freedom is a priority* yet Australia's parliament wanted to rush new laws through.
Despite a review led by Philip Ruddock finding no threat to religious freedom in Australia the Morrison Government planned to introduce a "religious freedom" law that would have allowed legal discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people.
Just.Equal instigated a petition to Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese, Adam Bandt, Centre Alliance, Jacquie Lambie asking that:
- You oppose legislation that potentially removes the protections LGBTIQ+ Australians currently have from discrimination.
- You remove existing exemptions from anti-discrimination law that allow LGBTIQ+ people to be discriminated against by faith-based schools, hospitals and charities
- You do not support legislation that protects religious freedom at the expense of other rights and freedoms
- You support a national Human Rights Act that will protect the rights of all Australians equally
PROTECTING OUR KIDS FROM PREJUDICE - PETITION
The long awaited "review into religious freedom" was finally leaked, four months after being handed to cabinet and almost twelve months after Australia achieved marriage equality.
Fairfax stated the report "dismisses the notion religious freedom is in imminent peril" but still proposes amendments to anti-discrimination legislation which specifically targets kids and teachers according to their sexuality or gender identity.
This would have actually wound back anti-discrimination laws that have existed in Tasmania for 20 years and reinforce discriminatory exemptions that already exist elsewhere.
Just.Equal presented a petition:
"The Ruddock Inquiry has recommended allowing religious schools to discriminate against Australian teachers and students according to their sexuality or gender identity.
We want less discrimination, not more.
We want schools to be safe places for all students and teachers, not breeding grounds for prejudice.
All schools receiving public funding should abide by the same principles of fairness and anti-discrimination as the rest of society.
A recent YouGov poll found 4 out of 5 Australians oppose laws that allow government-funded faith-based schools to expel students or sack teachers because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
In last year's postal survey a majority of Australians voted for equality for their fellow LGBTI Australians.
Please heed that vote by legislating for less discrimination, not more."
The petition is closed and was presented.
FREE THE GAY JOURNALISTS!
With your help a gay Saudi couple was released from Australian Immigration detention after seeking asylum in Australia! Immigration Minister Coleman released these men so they could, justly, have their claim of asylum processed without being further victimised by unnecessarily harsh and slow processes.
It's important to remember these men were detained in the Australian immigration system for months, unnecessarily, and many other LGBTIQ asylum seekers continue to face the same reality. We are very grateful to the phenomenal, tireless work of our campaign partners Human Rights For All.
You helped us secure their release, thank you! 
AUSTRALIA MUST TAKE ACTION AGAINST BRUNEI!
SUCCESS! We called on Brunei to respect human rights for all, including LGBTIQ people, by challenging the Australian Government to make a stand for human rights in the region. The Australian Foreign Affairs Minister made a public appeal to the Brunei Government which, along with international pressure, saw the latest initiative to further persecute LGBTIQ in Brunei stall. We must remain vigilant on this one.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REVIEW
We launched a petition to accompany our submission to the religious "freedom" review to protect against the erosion of gains made in 2017. We wanted to give Australia a strong voice in opposing any roll back of discrimination law and calls for an Australian Charter of Rights.
Granting legal privileges to discriminate on the grounds of religion potentially disadvantage minority faiths, women and interracial couples, as well as LGBTIQ people, so our petition was open to everyone to sign.
Here's a copy of the completed petition. Thanks to the thousands of Australians who signed it.
NO COMPROMISE ON EQUALITY
Once the postal vote was behind, us opponents were planning to install unprecedented religious privileges within any proposed amendment to the Marriage Act and then, more than ever, we needed supporters of equality to reflect the will of a clear majority of Australians.
It was a critical moment to remind our MPs and Senators that it's not equality if it's designed to treat LGBTI citizens less than other Australians.
The initiative was a partnership with PFLAG Australia.
PARLIAMENTARY VOTE ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY
73% of Australians wanted a parliamentary free vote NOW, but over 1 million Coalition voters said they were less likely to vote for the coalition if they hadn't achieved marriage equality by the next election. This was HUGE!
We needed to get this polling to coalition MPs and Senators who were the key to this reform. We needed them to act and we needed them to act RIGHT THEN.
Just.Equal and PFLAG urged marriage equality supporters to access their webform at demandafreevote.com.au to send an email to the Prime Minister and parliamentarians. More in QNews