The sacking of a teacher has sparked calls to remove the legal right in Western Australia for private schools to discriminate against gay workers.
Craig Campbell had been employed as a relief teacher at South Coast Baptist College at Rockingham, where he completed primary and high school himself as a student, and another school.
He said South Coast Baptist removed him from its roster after he told senior staff he was in a long-term relationship with a man.
Des Mitchell said Mr Campbell posted what he calls a ‘sexualised’ photo to his social media account that was noticed by teenage students.
“There was an adversarial engagement with the kids which was unfortunate,” Mr Mitchell said, adding Mr Campbell then disclosed his sexual orientation and was let go.
“We chose not to employ someone who’s openly gay, that may change in the future, I don’t know.”
The move has prompted fresh calls for WA’s anti-discrimination laws to be overhauled because they don’t match up with other states.
LGBTI spokesperson Brian Greig said he was appalled by the move, but not surprised.
“People feel completely deflated by it and they feel resigned to it because there’s nothing we can do about it unless we change the law,” Mr Greig said.
The government said it’s seeking legal advice before the issue is considered by cabinet.
“You should be able to work in a school and your sexual orientation is irrelevant and that’s my belief and that’s the way I think schools should operate in this day and age,” Premier Mark McGowan said.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2017
