In a landmark case, the Court of Appeal upheld the previous ruling of the Employment Appeal Tribunal that Islington Council was right to expect its employee Ms Ladele to perform same sex civil partnerships in her role as Registrar.

Ms Ladele’s religious beliefs consider same-sex partnerships as ‘contrary to God’s law’ and she refused to officiate in these ceremonies following the Civil Partnerships Act 2004. The Employment Tribunal initially ruled that she was the victim of religious discrimination, but this decision was overturned by the Employment Appeals Tribunal last December. Andrew Copson, of the British Humanist Association commented that the judgment made clear that in the context of public service providers, the rights of the individual employees do not ‘trump’ those of service users. They must ‘service users equally, with dignity and respect’.

Mike Jones of the Christian Institute accused Islington Council of ‘making gay rights more important than religious rights’ and went to say that ‘this case will help squeeze out Christians from the public sphere because of their religious beliefs on ethical issues’. After the ruling he pledged to take the case to the Supreme Court. The Tribunal in July 2008 accused Islington Council of ‘trumping’ gay over religious rights.

Conversely, gay rights group Stonewall welcomed the judgment and expressed pleasure that ‘the Court of Appeal has upheld the right of lesbian and gay people to receive public services from public servants.’ Liberty’s Corinna Ferguson hailed the ruling as a ‘common sense judgment’ and drew a line between this and examples of religious discrimination against people who are doing no harm. Liberty is representing Nadia Eweida next January when she argues that she was unfairly dismissed from British Airways for wearing a small cross while working on a check-in counter in an airport. The ruling in this case was also welcomed by the National Secular Society and the British Humanist Association.

Further Reading:
Christian Telegraph
Anglican Mainstream
Pink News
christian.org