Armidale Anglican church organist Peter Sanders hopes legal action to challenge his alleged sacking over sexuality could turn into a test case on the right of churches to discriminate against their employees.
Barrister Robert Angyal, SC, who will represent Mr Sanders, told the Northern Daily Leader the Anglican church would likely argue it was exempt from the Anti-Discrimination Act, as part of its defence.
But the former organist at St Mary’s Anglican Church, West Armidale, would argue that the exemption in the act that allowed religious organisations to choose who to hire based on beliefs or sexuality only applied to the appointment of staff.
“He is complaining, not about not being appointed, but about being sacked,” Mr Angyal alleged.
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That specific legal technicality will be one of many raised in the former organist’s complaint to the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, including matters of fact.
A married gay man, Mr Sanders will claim the diocese illegally discriminated against him by allegedly sacking him from a paid job playing organ for the small Armidale church in June.
Mr Sanders will claim he was told that the way he lived was “unbiblical” and that he could not continue to play the organ or hold other leadership roles at the church until he separated from his husband, Peter Grace, agreed to be celibate and to “learn how to live in a biblical way”.
LAWSUIT: Former Anglican church organist Peter Sanders will take the church to NSW Anti-Discrimination Board. Photo: Andrew Messenger
“I think Peter and I realise that this is a social justice issue that is far bigger than us,” he said.
“It’s important that we feel that we stand this up as a test case. Because these people have the welfare of many people’s mental health at hand …
“Can you imagine if there was a young insecure man or two females in the congregation? What happens if they felt that everyone was against them to resolve it and they took their life? That’s the sort of responsibility Peter and I [feel].”
The Peters are not seeking a financial payout. They hope to get an apology, to return to the congregation, and for everything to go back to normal.
Bishop Rod Chiswell said the church had done its best to mediate the dispute, had “consistently offered mediation or conciliation as an alternative to Mr Sanders’ foreshadowed legal action” and engaged “without prejudice” in negotiations with Mr Angyal.
“We have been waiting to hear back from Mr Angyal for some eight weeks, and therefore the negotiations are ongoing,” he said.
Asked if the diocese would consider closing the church in order to resolve the legal dispute by making the organist position redundant, he said that continuing ministry at St Mary’s was “a matter for the St Peter’s Cathedral parish”.
“The diocese is not aware of any plans to close St Mary’s,” he said.
Medieval historian Thomas Fudge, who was elected to represent the congregation to resolve the controversy, said he’d done his best to bring the church to the mediating table, to no avail.
The church has now been drawn into legal action it “can’t afford to lose”, he said.
“I think it’s a tragedy for the Peters, it’s a tragedy for the congregation of St Mary’s church because I think this is going to be the last straw in the destruction of St Mary’s,” he said.
“It’s a tragedy for the Dean [Chris Brennan], it’s a tragedy for the Bishop, it’s a tragedy for the Anglican church in Armidale.”
Most parishioners at the church have taken the side of their fellow church-goers, voting 31 to two to oppose the treatment of Mr Sanders and his husband.
Since becoming public, the alleged sacking has become part of a larger debate about the view of the Anglican church hierarchy on gay rights and about religious freedom legislation which the Morrison government is considering presenting to Commonwealth parliament. More than 18,000 people have signed a petition calling for the church to back down.
Ultimately, Mr Sanders wants the next church with a gay organist to think twice before discriminating against them.
“Peter and I are not people who want to draw attention to ourselves,” he said.
“We’re now stuck in a fight and we feel that if we don’t see this through to the best that we can for the sake of everyone else we’d let the side down. As far as Peter I are concerned, we’d be happy to disappear.”
Mr Angyal told the Leader his client would allege the St Mary’s management committee was instructed to tell him he couldn’t continue playing the organ unless he ended his marriage to his husband Mr Grace.
The board does not have the power to decide Mr Sanders’ complaint but it could investigate and offer conciliation to resolve the dispute.
If conciliation fails, the board can refer the matter on to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
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