A CHRISTIAN camp organisation says it refused a gay youth support group's booking at a resort not because its members were homosexual but because it was promoting unmarried sex.
Suicide prevention group WayOut, which works with young same-sex-attracted people from regional Victoria, had tried to book the Christian Youth Camps' (CYC) Phillip Island Adventure Resort in June 2007 for a workshop on fighting homophobia, but it was refused.
The group took the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in 2010, which upheld a discrimination complaint against a Christian Brethren-run business.
On Wednesday CYC appealed the decision in the Victorian Court of Appeal, arguing it did not discriminate against homosexuals.
In written submissions to the court, lawyers for CYC argued that Mark Rowe, the man who refused the youth group, did not refuse them because their members were gay, but because a message would be promoted that it was okay to have sex outside marriage.
"The substantial reason why Mr Rowe responded as he did was because of his concern from what he was told that the forum was to be used to propagate or encourage the notion that homosexuality was part of the normal range of human sexualities to young people," CYC's lawyers said in the submissions.
CYC's barrister Joseph Santamaria QC told the court it was the belief of the organisation that God intended sexual activity to occur only between a married male and female couple.
In its submissions, CYC argued that the tribunal was in error when it did not conclude that Mr Rowe acted as he did because of his concern about the nature of the workshop given the beliefs of CYC and himself.
Debbie Mortimer SC, for Cobaw Community Health Services, which runs the WayOut program, said VCAT had made the right decision.
She said suggestions that CYC had no knowledge of the sexual orientation of WayOut group members did not stand up to scrutiny.
"The tribunal concluded that the only or dominant reason for the refusal to accept the booking was because of the (same-sex) sexual orientation of the proposed attendees, or the personal association of the proposed attendees with persons identified by their (same-sex) sexual orientation," she said in a written submission.
The hearing continues on Thursday.
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