A woman who was fired for opposing sex same marriage in Australia claims she was attacked for her religious beliefs.
The 18-year-old, identified only as Madeline, lost her job at a children’s entertainment company after encouraging her social media followers to vote no in the postal survey on gay marriage.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Voting no is homophobic [and] advertising your homophobia is hate speech,” said owner Madlin Sims, adding that she was acting out of concern for the children Madeline would be working with.
“Just like I wouldn’t want someone who is racist working with us ... I wasn’t comfortable having someone who was so out and proud about being against equality,” she added.
In an interview with ABC, Madeline said she felt she had been had discriminated against her because of her Christian religion and denied being homophobic.
“I love everyone, I’m not a hateful person at all,” she said. “I wish that everyone could have equality ... but to vote yes, to me, is something I can’t do.”
Lawyers warn that Madeleine could take her former boss to court. The law protects the political and religious views of employees and contractors, “regardless of whether they support or oppose marriage equality”, The Guardian reports.
However, Madeline says she doesn’t plan to take legal action. “I am tempted to but at this point I don’t feel like it would do anything. I don’t feel like it would make me a bigger and better person if I did,” she said.
-
Must-see bookshops around the UKThe Week Recommends Lose yourself in beautiful surroundings, whiling away the hours looking for a good book
-
A Nipah virus outbreak in India has brought back Covid-era surveillanceUnder the radar The disease can spread through animals and humans
-
Nasa’s new dark matter mapUnder the Radar High-resolution images may help scientists understand the ‘gravitational scaffolding into which everything else falls and is built into galaxies’
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Australia weighs new gun laws after antisemitic attackSpeed Read A father and son opened fire on Jewish families at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing at least 15
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
