Following the dismissal of an appeal last month by the Victorian Court of Appeal, CYC has brought the case in which the Christian group was ruled to have been unlawfully discriminative to the High Court of Australia.
In an interview with the Australian Christian Lobby, Associate Professor Neil Foster from the University of Newcastle's School of Law has expressed hope that the High Court would provide more clarity on the decision handed down by the State.
Speaking of the dismissal of CYC's appeal, Foster said that though the decision only formally applies to Victorian legislation, comments made in the judgement may be used in courts of other jurisdictions across Australia.
"So there is a possibility that the fairly narrow interpretation that was given to freedom of religion in this case might become more widely applied across other areas in Australia where this becomes an issue," he said.
"That is why it has the potential to have a serious impact on narrowing freedom of religious exercise in Australia."
In 2010, CYC was approached for a booking by the COBAW group. After realising that the event the community health group intended to host was aimed to teach and encourage attendees that homosexuality was a normal and natural part of life, CYC declined to take the booking, claiming that such activities were contrary to their fundamental beliefs.
In court, CYC explained that the reason they declined the booking was that the Cobaw group was presenting and supporting a view that was contrary to the organisation's own view on Christian morality, rather than the identity of the individuals of the group.
Speaking of similar cases in the UK and US, Foster said: "These sorts of pressure points are coming up where Christians who want to take a stance on biblical morality are finding they are coming up against a different ethical stance."
"This area of sexual orientation discrimination [is becoming] a big issue for Christian groups that are acting in the public sphere."
