The next Australian government must prioritise laws to ban schools from expelling or discriminating against gay students and teachers, LGBT+ advocates said on Thursday, amid an election campaign marred by homophobic slurs. Last year Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he planned to ban private or religious schools from expelling students on the basis of their sexuality, but legislation on religious freedom and sexual discrimination became bogged down by political infighting in parliament. But with Australians preparing to go to the polls on May 18, LGBT+ activists said this was an opportunity to strengthen protections and get legislation on schools over the line. “We need to make sure that the commitment to protect students from discrimination in religious schools … is implemented,” Anna Brown, chief executive office at Equality Australia, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.