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Discrimination by churches based on sexuality now illegal

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by Pseudojim, Nov 22, 2009.

  1. Pseudojim

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    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/22/churches-lift-ban-homosexual-staff

    Jamie Doward, The Observer, Sunday 22 November 2009


    The government is being forced by the European commission to rip up controversial exemptions that allow church bodies to refuse to employ homosexual staff.

    It has emerged that the commission wrote to the government last week raising concerns that the UK had incorrectly implemented an EU directive prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of a person's sexual orientation.

    The ruling follows a complaint from the National Secular Society, which argued that the opt-outs went further than was permitted under the directive and had created "illegal discrimination against homosexuals".

    The commission agreed. A "reasoned opinion" by its lawyers informs the government that its "exceptions to the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for religious employers are broader than that permitted by the directive".

    The highly unusual move means that the government now has no choice but to redraft anti-discrimination laws, which is likely to prompt a furore among church groups.

    In anticipation of a possible backlash from the commission, the government has already inserted new clauses into its equality bill. But even if the bill is jettisoned, future governments will be bound by the commission's ruling.

    Under the new proposals being drafted by the government, religious organisations will be able to refuse to employ homosexuals only if their job involves actively promoting or practising a religion. A blanket refusal to employ any homosexuals would no longer be possible.

    "This ruling is a significant victory for gay equality and a serious setback for religious employers who have been granted exemptions from anti-discrimination law," said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. "It is a big embarrassment for the British government, which has consistently sought to appease religious homophobes by granting them opt-outs from key equality laws. The European commission has ruled these opt-outs are excessive."

    The employment directive outlawing discrimination in the workplace was finalised by the European commission in 2000 and became law in the UK in early 2003, following a public consultation exercise. At the time there were accusations that the government had "caved in" to religious groups that mounted a fierce lobbying campaign to be exempted from the new laws.

    Under the terms of the exemption, religious groups were allowed to refuse a position to a homosexual employee "so as to avoid conflicting with the strongly held religious convictions of a significant number of the religion's followers".

    "In other words, if a significant number of followers of an organised religion didn't like it, there was no protection for a gay employee," said Keith Porteous-Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society. "Now the government must demonstrate its commitment to equality, rather than continuing to jump to the church's tune."

    The EU's equal opportunities commissioner, Vladimir Špidla, said: "We call on the UK government to make the necessary changes to its anti-discrimination legislation as soon as possible so as to fully comply with the EU rules."

    But religious groups expressed alarm at the move. The Christian charity, Care, said: "If evangelical churches cannot be sure that they can employ practising evangelicals with respect to sexual ethics, how will they be able to continue?"



    Hoorays
     
  2. RaeofLite

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    *dances*

    :slight_smile:

    I'm happy to hear this. Maybe now Churches will realize that gays are actual people and mostly decent ones at that and if they can just pull their heads out of their asses, they'd see it.
     
  3. Greggers

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    Eh, honestly i kind of like laws like this sometimes. I would not want to go to / work for a church that did not accept me. That said, it sends a good example. Still though...i dunno...something bugs me about it, like what a gay person would be doing working for a conservative christian church that preaches hate against them.
     
  4. Revan

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    Can't wait to see a response from the churches lol
     
  5. SpinachWrap

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    To be honest, I don't like it. I don't think the government should be telling churches who they can and can't hire. They should be able to impose whatever silly restrictions on their employees that they wish. I don't agree with their decision to do so, and I think that the Christian community desperately needs more tolerance on this issue, but it's not my place or the place of the government to tell them how to run their church.
     
  6. Ben

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    Mainstream Christian thought in the UK tends to be more liberal than it is in America, so the only Churches opposed to this will be some of the more hardcore evangelical churches, which are in a minority anyway. We don't really get large groups which echo the same sentiments as the Christian right in America, probably because of different culture and having a much smaller population.
    So I don't really think this will get too much anger.
     
  7. Gaetan

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    Honestly, if they don't want to hire somebody because they're gay, they probably still wont hire them anyway. "They just weren't right for the job..."
     
  8. Ty

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    The Anglican church isn't really homophobic as such. I can see them endorsing same sex marriages in the near future (although I can imagine this will just further split up the Anglican Church...).
     
  9. Connor22

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    you see, this is what is wrong with Christianity. Jesus came into the world and he tore up all of the rules and turned religion on his head. Of course then he got crucified but still whenever the disciples took over religion, few hundred years down the line those rules that ol' beardy tore up start to reappear only more subtly and then we get where we are at. Jesus isn't back yet, so we have to steer religion on the right path, no matter what it takes. Jesus says so. God loves all of you and don't forget it because it's true. WOW that was deep
     
  10. Derek the Wolf

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    I just thought this was worth repeating. So far as I can tell, Jesus wouldn't care if you're gay or straight.
     
  11. Emberstone

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    Welcome to Schisemopolis.

    I am a firm believer in seperation of church and state... so I doubt this would work in america. The churches all of a sudden would become a proponant of the seperation of church and state... but would still refuse to get the hell out of politics where the seperation says they dont belong.