The Northern Territory's LGBT community is celebrating the most extensive overhaul of anti-discrimination laws in three decades as a "huge stride" towards equality.
A bill amending the territory's Anti-Discrimination Act passed parliament just before midnight on Tuesday, despite members of the territory's Country Liberal Party (CLP) voting against it.
The changes include the removal of a clause that previously allowed religious groups to discriminate against a person on the basis of their religious beliefs or sexuality and an expansion of protected personal attributes.
LGBT advocate Paige Horrigan said the bill's passage was an exciting moment for the community and marked a "huge change" in the territory.
"It will increase the protections that so many diverse groups will have in the Northern Territory, from LGBTQI+ people, gender diverse people, [and] victims of domestic violence even," they said.
"It will mean they can't be discriminated against in the workplace even more solidly now."
Rainbow Territory spokesperson Ahmad Syahir Mohd Soffi said the bill's passage was the product of a more than 30-year-long fight by LGBT advocates and their allies and a "significant advancement" for community members.
"This legislation means that no workplace, including religious schools and organisations, can discriminate against LGBTQI+ Territorians," they said.
"Everyone deserves to live free of discrimination."
Kamahi Djordan King — the Katherine-based performing artist behind cabaret queen Constantina Bush — said the changes meant he had to worry less about discrimination during the hiring process.
"If I wanted to be a teacher, me being a gay man could be questionable in their eyes and they could have the power to discriminate against me — but now, it's not so," he said.
"We all have a shot at being equal."
Sex work industry welcomes extra protection
The national association for sex workers has also welcomed the overhaul, which included adding sex work — both past and present — as a personal attribute protected against discrimination under the act.
Sex work is fully decriminalised in the territory, but Scarlet Alliance chief executive Jules Kim said discrimination and stigma were still a "daily occurrence" for workers.
She said the reforms would give sex workers an extra level of protection and empower them to take action if needed.
"We have explicit protections now, for the first time," Ms Kim said.
"Not only does it send an important message that discrimination is unacceptable — it also means when we experience it, that we have an avenue to get it addressed."
Religious groups still hold concerns
In the lead-up to the vote, a handful of religious groups held protests against the bill, warning it could damage the faith-based foundation of religious schools.
On Wednesday, they vowed to continue to fight some of the amendments.
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Darwin, Charles Gauci, said he was getting legal advice about what the legislation could mean for Catholic schools' ability to hire people of the same faith without legal challenge.
"I want to ensure that our schools remain authentic," he said.
"I've had a lot of concerned parents and teachers and members in the community about this — lots. "
Islamic Council of the NT chairman Chowdhury Sadaruddin said his organisation was also concerned that Darwin's only Islamic school could be susceptible to prosecution for "unnecessary reasons".
"In our view, it should have been left to the authority of the schools, rather than putting it into the Anti-Discrimination Act and making it more complicated, because we can be prosecuted for unnecessary reasons," he said.
He said members of the Islamic community felt they had been ignored by the government.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles on Wednesday said she believed religious schools were unlikely to face wrongful prosecution under the Act.
"I feel comfortable that many faith-based schools are already implementing how the legislation works," she said.
The new legislation will come into effect from mid-2023.
