As a mother and teacher, Evie hoped things would change following political promises to protect LGBTQI students and staff but when she was forced from her Catholic school job, it was the final straw.
Her faith in the system evaporated.
Evie (not her real name) says she had no choice but to resign from her role as a regional school Catholic educator after being ostracised when her daughter came out as transgender.
The then four-year-old had transitioned and affirmed socially, and Evie was open with her boss about it before being encouraged to talk to the local parish priest, who presided over the school's religious governance.
Evie says he asked about her daughter's genitals, accused her of being "psychologically unbalanced" and insinuated she shouldn't be offered unconditional love and support.
He also recommended conversion therapy, a practice banned in multiple jurisdictions because changing or suppressing sexual orientation or gender identity was found to be harmful and based on the misconception LGBTQI people are "broken, wrong or in need of fixing".
Neither major political party is promising this election to protect gender-diverse staff and students at religious schools after the failure of negotiations over religious freedom laws aimed at offering anti-discrimination protection.
Evie says she was told she and her daughter wouldn't be allowed to attend Catholic services unless she wore men's clothes and her 'correct' pronouns were used.
She complained to the Catholic Schools Office and chancery of priests, and then missed out on a promotion to acting principal, a job she had done before. However she was told she'd need to do the extra work with no extra pay.
Evie alleges she was then moved from the school and put "in a hidden, mouse-infested corner of a dark room" to do non-public facing work, allowed minimal contact with others and told not to talk about it.
She says her daughter was also discriminated against, told she would need to be accompanied by a teacher to the toilet rather than another classmate and to stay home during an athletics carnival.
The ordeal left her not wanting to go to school even one or two days per week and with lasting trauma.
"The change in her was heartbreaking," Evie says.
"She said she felt like her teachers were mad at her and she was unhappy all of the time."
Evie says she resigned in 2022 and even though it was her decision, "I felt like I was forced out because my daughter is trans.
"That bigoted system left my daughter without a school and has impacted her schooling every since."
Evie says she felt a sense of hope where there had been none when Labor Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus assumed office and promised greater LGBTQI protections.
However the party later abandoned the pledge after failing to strike a deal with the coalition over legislation to offset stripping carve-outs for religious schools in anti-discrimination laws.
The protections could have stopped what happened to her and her daughter, and she would have had some recourse to stop the discrimination, Evie believes.
It's why she feels her complaint fell flat, as the priest "was freely able to say what he said without any recourse or accountability."
It was "unfathomable ... minority groups basically became political footballs in the lead up to an election" and were then dumped on the other side."
She says she thought her daughter would have greater rights to education but the backflip "was pretty much a kick to the stomach".
"Being treated as inhuman, disposable people ... that's really hard to reconcile."
Religious groups argued against repealing the carve-out, saying it would impact the freedom to teach beliefs and promote faith-based communities.
They also argued for the right to employ staff who follow their ethos and practise their beliefs.
Mr Dreyfus says he shelved the legislation as it needed bipartisan support to avoid a divisive public fight and having reforms repealed under a coalition government.
"The government is seeking an enduring solution that strengthens protections for all of us; for students, for teachers and for people of faith," he noted in March 2024.
"That's why bipartisan support for solutions is essential."
The reforms didn't do enough to preserve religious freedoms, according to shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash when contacted by AAP.
She's pledging to "respect those choices made by Australian parents".
"Religious schools spend years building a values-based culture that breathes life into the whole school community," she says.
"For thousands of families it is the reason they send their children to that school."
If re-elected, independent MP Allegra Spender vows to use any political leverage available to reform laws protecting both the queer community and people of faith.
"The refusal of the major parties to work together to protect LGBTIQ+ students and teachers from discrimination at school has been one of the big disappointments of this parliament," she says.
"No student should be expelled for who they are, no teacher should lose their job because of their sexual orientation or gender identity."
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