Christian Youth Camps LTD v. Cobaw Community Health Services LTD

The Equal Opportunity Act 1995 of the state of Victoria, Australia guarantees freedom from discrimination and freedom of religion as fundamental rights. Christian Youth Camps LTD (CYC) (defendant), a corporation organized to conduct camping and adventure activities, owned a camping resort managed by Mark Rowe (defendant). Cobaw Community Health Services LTD (Cobaw) (plaintiff) sought to rent the resort for an event to raise awareness of the challenges faced by homosexual young people. CYC and Rowe opposed homosexuality based on Christian teachings and therefore refused to rent the resort to Cobaw. Cobaw, therefore, filed suit before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the tribunal) for discrimination pursuant to the act. CYC argued that, even if its refusal to rent to Cobaw constituted unlawful discrimination, CYC was exempted by §§ 75 or 77 of the act. Section 75 provided that a body established for religious purposes could discriminate if necessary for its religion. Section 77 provided that a person could discriminate if necessary for the person’s genuine religious beliefs. Cobaw argued that CYC was not a person within the meaning of § 77 and therefore that § 77 was not applicable to CYC. The tribunal held that CYC had unlawfully discriminated against the individuals who planned to attend Cobaw’s event at the resort on the basis of their sexual orientation and that neither exemption was available to CYC under the facts. However, the tribunal held that CYC was a person for purposes of § 77 and therefore could have applied the exemption in § 77 under different facts. CYC appealed, and the Victoria Supreme Court accepted supplementary briefing to resolve whether corporations were considered people within the meaning of § 77.