Law changes proposed for Victoria will mean religious groups will no longer be able to discriminate – unless it’s against homosexuality and single mothers.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, religious groups will no longer be able to discriminate against someone based on ‘race, disability, age, physical features, political belief or breastfeeding,’ if proposed new laws are passed early next year. These changes to the State’s Equal Opportunity Act, however, do not extend to sexuality or marital status. An exclusion that includes homosexuals, single-parent mothers or fathers, and divorcees.

While gay rights activists are angered by the law-enshrined discrimination, religious leaders are thanking the government for respecting their prejudices.

According to Australian Christian Lobby director Rob Ward, some of the law options the Victorian government were considering “would have undermined the very core of these bodies by preventing them from upholding their beliefs in terms of who they employ and, therefore, how they operate,” Ward told the SMH.

“It is good to see the Victorian government respecting those concerns and the basic right to religious freedom in this state,” says Ward.

The Victorian government has said the changes are about finding a better balance between the right to freedom from discrimination and the right to religious freedom.

Those concerned about the changes indicate that the laws will not only include the religious institutions themselves, but services run by religious groups – including schools and hospitals.

“It’ll still be contentious with some,” Victorian Acting Premier and Attorney-General Rob Hulls told ABC Radio, “I have no doubt that some people believe there shouldn’t be any exceptions or exemptions in the legislation at all. Other people will say that we should continue with all the 53 that currently exist.”

In the same report, Haley Conway, convener of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby said that discrimination may be veiled by religious freedom, but that it shouldn’t be funded by government. “Obviously, organisations who are receiving government funding shouldn’t be able to then also benefit from a kind of state sanctioned discrimination. I think that if those schools would like to be able to do and employ who they want, free from any kind of government interference, or societal influence, then they should do that without receiving government funding,” Conway told the ABC.

Professor Margaret Thornton, a discrimination law expert told The Age that the laws were nonsensical. “In terms of a person’s private life…their sexual preference or marital status really has nothing to do with their ability to perform a job. Being able to discriminate on marital status is particularly absurd. It is really out of date. It really amounts to the policing of women because the focus is on single mothers, not on men.”