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Foster agency vs religious parents anti-discrimination case underway

The anti-discrimination case between Perth couple Byron and Keira Hordyk and foster agency Wanslea Family Services has begun at the State Administrative Tribunal.

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The case is expected to run over the next eight days. The couple applied to be foster parents back in 2017 but we’re knocked back over their view that homosexuality is a sin. The couple have indicated that their advice to a child who thought they might be gay would be that homosexuality is something that is a choice and can be overcome.

“We hold traditional Christian views on how the Bible teaches us on sexuality and marriage,” Byron Hordyk told The West Australian in a recent interview, and are taking the foster agency to court because they believe they have been discriminated on their religious beliefs.

The West Australian reported today that in his opening statement, the couple’s lawyer Steven Penglis admitted that while it would not be appropriate to match the Hordyks with a gay teenager, his clients’ views on homosexuality “ought not to have ended the process”.

“There’s an acknowledgement in Wanslea’s own document that not one size fits all,” he said. “Not all foster parents will fit all foster children.”

As the couple were interested in looking after young children on a temporary basis and providing emergency care their lawyer has argued that the issue of their views on homosexuality should not apply.

The case continues.

OIP Staff


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