GenQ
http://www.generationq.net/news/australia/australian-gay-couple-have-foster-parent-ban-overturned-001.shtmlAustralian gay couple have foster parent ban overturned
A same-sex couple in Australia have had a previous verdict of prohibiting them being foster parents overturned.
In what has been described as a landmark case against discrimination of same-sex couples, a gay couple who had their initial application to become foster parents denied has successfully had the verdict overturned, as well as have compensation issued.
The couple, who have not had their identities revealed, lodged a complaint with the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board after a welfare agency denied their application to become foster parents, despite laws in the state allowing same-sex couples to be foster parents.
The Administrative Decisions Tribunal has ruled that the couple was “unlawfully discriminated against on the ground of homosexuality” and as a result overturned the ban as well as awarding $10,000 in compensation after the couple were “deeply hurt, insulted and embarrassed”.
“The evidence makes it clear that a heterosexual person in the same position as each applicant would have been provided with the services necessary to allow an application to become a foster carer to be processed and assessed on its merits. We find the refusal to provide those services constitutes less favourable treatment,” the judgment stated.
The welfare agency linked to the case has since been associated with the Uniting Church, and defended their decision to prohibit the couple from becoming foster parents on religious grounds.