AN EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL has ruled unanimously that a Christian registrar who objected on conscience grounds to registering civil partnerships was unlawfully discriminated against.
Lillian Ladele, who has worked in the Registration Service for 16 years, had asked Islington Council to excuse her from performing the registrations. She was aware that other local authorities had agreed to accommodate individual consciences, and she had made it clear that she was not seeking to obstruct people forming civil partnerships. She managed to swap with colleagues for 15 months, but formal complaints were made about her in March 2006.
The tribunal unanimously supported Miss Ladele’s claim that the Council had unlawfully discriminated against her in failing to consider her for promotion; threatening her with dismissal; concluding she had committed gross misconduct; failing to redress allegations of homophobia, and labelling and treating her as homophobic; disregarding her concerns about her treatment; and failing to apply its anti-discrimination policies to gay colleagues who were mistreating her.
The judgment found that the Council had “disregarded and displayed no respect for Ms Ladele’s genuinely held religious belief”, and had created “an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her”.
Miss Ladele described the ruling as “a victory for religious liberty, not just for myself, but for others in a similar position to mine. Gay rights should not be used as an excuse to bully and harass people over their religious beliefs.” The Christian Institute funded Miss Ladele’s case. Her solicitor, Mark Jones, said that in standing up for her faith, Miss Ladele had faced vilification with “a quiet dignity”.
He continued: “I hope that those who were quick to criticise Lillian — including those holding political and clerical office — will swiftly express their support for her (and others like her) now that she has been revealed as the victim and not the perpetrator, of the discrimination they purport to oppose.”
Dr Don Horrocks of the Evangelical Alliance described the ruling as “a triumph for the place of conscience in public duties”. “It conclusively confirms that where there are competing rights, a balance has to be struck which treats the respective rights equally.”
The campaigner Peter Tatchell said that the decision sanctioned discrimination by religious people. It was “a dangerous subversion” of the democratic principle of equal rights. “We could soon find religious police officers, solicitors, fire-fighters, and doctors refusing to serve members of the public whom they find morally objectionable — and being allowed to do so by the law,” he said. Islington Council is to appeal. |
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