I was sacked for being gay: How Steph’s faith and sexuality collided

Traditional religious views, especially on sexuality, are increasingly being seen as at odds with modern society. Insight spoke to two women about their experiences.

Steph Lentz was fired from her job after she came out as gay.

Key Points

• Steph Lentz had been married to a man for four years when she fell in love with a woman at church.
• She believed a heterosexual marriage was the only option for lifelong companionship.

Australians are less religious than ever before, according to the 2021 Census. So, with many of us shifting away from traditional institutions, what does it mean to hold onto your beliefs? On Keeping the Faith, Insight explores the costs and rewards of sticking with spirituality. Watch Tuesday, 11 October from 8:30pm on SBS On Demand.

Steph Lentz had been married to a man for four years when she fell in love with a woman at church.

Growing up in Australia in a conservative Anglican church, she believed a heterosexual marriage was the only option for lifelong companionship.

“I was so involved in that complex self-deception that a lot of queer people experience. I think I believed that whatever the suffering or sacrifice, that God would reward me in due course,” Steph said.

Steph Lentz

Instead, when she was 27, her world was “turned upside down” when she fell in love with a woman and was forced to confront her burgeoning sexuality and religious doubts.

After separating from her husband, Steph took some time to recalibrate. She landed a teaching job at a non-denominational Evangelical Christian school.

In late 2020, she came out as a lesbian to her employer. She was promptly sacked. It left her unemployed and questioning her faith.

Steph said she came out to her employer because she “wanted to live a life that was more transparent and authentic.”

She also wanted to be a representative for some of her students who she knew were queer and felt “unseen and excluded.”

Religious colleges and schools are sacking teachers who come out as gay. And they also have the legal right to exclude trans and gay kids from schools.

Dr Kate Gleeson

Dr Kate Gleeson is an Associate Professor of Law at Macquarie University says religious organisations have always been legally able to recruit appropriate people based on sex or faith, but this power is being used to discriminate.

“Originally, this was mainly used against women. Women who had children out of wedlock, as we used to say, are women who are living in de facto relationships, and weren't married,” Dr Glesson said.

“But of course, now the great controversy is that religious colleges and schools are sacking teachers who come out as gay. And they also have the legal right to exclude trans and gay kids from schools.”

YouGov research at the last election showed a clear majority, 67 per cent, of voters disagreed that “religious schools should be able to refuse to employ staff based on their sexual orientation”. Only 15 per cent agreed.

“There is absolutely no appetite amongst the majority of Australians for any laws that are interpreted as extending the right of religious bodies to discriminate against LGBTI people,” Dr Gleeson said.

Fahimah speaking at a climate protest.

In the 2021 Census, the percentage of people identifying as Christian continued to decline, dropping to 11.1 million (43.9 per cent of respondents) from 12.2 million (52.1 per cent) in 2016.

Denominationally, Catholicism was down 2.6 per cent to 20 per cent and Anglicanism fell 3.5 per cent to 9.8 per cent.

There was also a generational divide: more than two-thirds (69.4 per cent) of the Interwar generation (people aged 75 years and over) were affiliated with Christianity.

Almost half of millennials said they had no religion (46.5 per cent) and 14.9 per cent said they believed in ‘Other religions’.

Fuelled by migration, Sikhism, Hinduism and Islam had an increased following.

Fahimah is co-president of the Muslim Collective

Fahimah grew up in Malaysia, where roughly two-thirds of the population are Islamic.

When she moved to Australia at 21 to study architecture, she was exposed to different cultural backgrounds and faiths.

We're affirming of people of all beliefs, and gender and sexual identities.

Fahimah

“It really broadened my horizons,” Fahimah said.

Today, Fahimah is the co-president of the Muslim Collective, an inclusive Islamic group which believes in practising a more progressive interpretation of Islam.

Fahimah at a climate rally.

“We're affirming of people of all beliefs, and gender and sexual identities.”

Fahimah is also the community organiser and lead anti-coal campaigner for the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change and says her religion was an important part of her political awakening.

“I remember the first political rally I went to was organised at a mosque.”

Fahimah says “everyone has potential to contribute to society, to contribute to their faith communities, and to attain spiritual fulfilment, and that should step beyond what genitals you have.”