TUC WELCOMES CIVIL PARTNERSHIP RULING
News by HOMOVISION on December 15, 2009 at 11:23 amThe TUC today welcomed the decision of the Court of Appeal to reject the appeal by Lillian Ladele against the decision that her employer, the London Borough of Islington, had not discriminated against her when it refused to allow her not to register civil partnerships.
Lillian Ladele had asserted that she had the right not to carry out her duties as a registrar for same sex partners’ civil partnerships, on the grounds that these were opposed to her religious beliefs. Ladele had originally won her claim at an Employment Tribunal, but then lost at the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “This ruling is very good news for everyone who believes in equality. Lesbian and gay people are entitled to be treated as equals. No one is allowed to pick and choose whether to provide a service to someone because of their race or gender – so why should they be allowed to do so on the grounds of sexuality?
“Had Ladele won her case, it would have created the perverse position that the more prejudiced you are against lesbian and gay people because of your religion, the more the law permits you to discriminate against them.”
The TUC now hopes to see the existing religious exemptions from equality law tightened up and clarified in the Equality Bill now in the House of Lords.
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Tags: Brendan Barber, Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, Employment Tribunal, gay, Gay Lesbian and Bisexual, Homosexuality, House of Lords, lesbian
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