Via the AP:

"States are providing large amounts of funding to services along with essentially a license to discriminate with the provision of those services, and it just seems very out of date and inappropriate," said Alan Brotherton, a policy director for ACON, an organization promoting health issues for the gay community.

... Neil Foster, a Newcastle University expert on law and religion, said the Australian situation presents a dichotomy between human rights and religious rights. He considers both equally important rights.

But [Wayne] Morgan, the discrimination law expert, doesn't think the religious freedom argument is valid when it comes to services that extend into the public sector.

"The churches, when they provide these services, they are not propagating their religion," he said. "They are engaging in secular activities."