LGBTQIA+ advocates say the federal government's religious discrimination bill has already had a "material impact" on people's lives and safety.
The contentious legislation passed the lower house early on Thursday morning after five Coalition MPs crossed the floor to vote with Labor so that gay and transgender students would be protected from being discriminated against by religious schools. By Thursday afternoon, the bill was shelved by the Senate.
Jasper Peach is a Central Victorian writer, speaker and editor and says the coverage of the bill had been "really dangerous".
"These so-called debates, they have [a] material impact on real people's lives and safety," Mx Peach said.
"Debating transgender lives is being made into this hot button topic.
Mx Peach said the conversations and language used around the bill needed to support the LGBTQIA+ community, who were already more susceptible to mental health issues.
"Transgender people aged 14 to 25 are fifteen times more likely to attempt suicide — that's not think about, that's attempt," they said.
"These are not just statistics. These are people."
Discrimination laws mirror racial abuse in mosque debate
In her Wednesday address to the House of Representatives, Federal Labour Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters said she was concerned the religious discrimination bill would override state-based anti-discrimination laws introduced in the wake of the vilification directed towards Bendigo's Muslim community when they tried to build a mosque.
In 2017, United Patriots Front trio Blair Cottrell, Christopher Shortis and Neil Erikson were each fined $2,000 after they filmed the beheading of a mannequin with a toy sword outside the Bendigo council offices in 2015.
After six years of controversy that saw protests in the streets, the sod was turned on the mosque in July 2019.
"What was frustrating for a lot of the people in the Bendigo Muslim community is that they were partly on the sidelines because it wasn't technically their faith on trial; it was a planning decision."
The Labor MP said the debate around the Religious Discrimination Bill was leaving Australia's LGBTQIA+ community on the sideline of a law that could suppress their own rights in religious settings, such as schools.
Speaking to the ABC this week, Federal Member for Mallee and Nationals Party member Anne Webster said she wanted to see more amendments made to the bill.
Religious leaders say faith and identity have become political pawns
Brian Turner is the principal of Bendigo's Catherine McAuley College.
He said the school would continue to support their LGBTQIA+ students.
"I'm not happy with the language they [the federal government] are using.
"The constant reference to students just doesn't help them in a really challenging phase of their life. It only creates extra attention."
Mr Turner believes the Catholic education system has made strides in accepting queer and gender diverse people.
"As a principal, my job is when a student walks through the gate, to be supportive," he said.
"I think there's elements where people should be able to express their religious vocations, and that orientation, absolutely.
"But I think, to pinpoint a particular cohort of young people as the key issue, it's just very damaging."
Anglican Diocese of Bendigo Bishop Matthew Brain said he was in favour of a bill of rights that would mean all people were free.
He said the religious discrimination bill should have remained about recognising that some people of faith could share their beliefs without breaking the law.
"If a nation has to be truly free, it has to be free for everyone," Bishop Brain said.
Bishop Brain said while he didn't hold those views, some people of faith wanted to be able to discuss, teach, and pray in ways without fear of breaking the law.
'This is who I am'
Coming from a religious background, transgender Bendigo performer Ben MacEllen says he has found discussions around the religious discrimination bill tough.
"Religious freedom is protected enough through the discrimination laws we already have. People should believe in who they want to believe in," he said.
The government has indefinitely shelved its bid to overhaul religious freedom laws after failing to bring the matter on for debate in the Senate, where the bill was set for a second showdown.
