Newsday - Could Australian religion bill lead to LGBTQ+ discrimination? - BBC Sounds

A controversial bill aimed at protecting religious people in Australia is being hotly debated across the country.

The Religious Discrimination Bill was introduced by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in November. He said it would ensure protection for religious people and organisations to express beliefs and avoid so-called "cancel culture".

However, many Australians believe that it could also infringe on the rights of citizens, especially those from the LGBTQ+ community.

Critics says the bill enables discrimination and would allow religious schools to exclude transgender students.

Labor MP Stephen Jones said the bill had not been thought through.

Mr Jones described how he lost his 15-year-old gay nephew, who took his own life. He also said he was worried that his own gender non-conforming teenage son may be attacked for telling people who he was.

Stephen Jones told Newsday: "I was just really determined that inside the Australian parliament, we weren't going to proceed with this debate we were having as if it was just about categories, and rights that were going to be assigned to specific categories, I wanted to talk about people".