Registrar wins same-sex tribunal

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

I wouldn't want a registrar marrying me who wasn't happy to be there, but religious discrimination? Why stop at homosexuals, will people now try to stop working on Sundays?

A marriage registrar was bullied for refusing to conduct same-sex ceremonies, a tribunal has ruled.
Lillian Ladele who said the civil partnership ceremonies went against her Christian faith hailed the decision as a "victory for religious liberty".
The tribunal ruled that Miss Ladele was discriminated against on grounds of religious beliefs and was harassed. Islington council said it was "disappointed" and was considering an appeal against the ruling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7499248.stm

[Mulder]

A victory for religious liberty. You could easily write an essay, or even a book, just analysing that phrase.

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

My new religious beliefs tell me I should only work 3 hours a day. I'm just about to tell my boss that.

[filippo lippi]

F...ing bigotry, protected by law.

Fantastic

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

F...ing bigotry, protected by law.

Fantastic

Couldn't have put it better.

[vbloke]

A marriage registrar was bullied for refusing to conduct black and Jewish ceremonies, a tribunal has ruled.
Lillian Ladele who said the civil partnership ceremonies went against her Christian faith hailed the decision as a "victory for religious liberty".
The tribunal ruled that Miss Ladele was discriminated against on grounds of religious beliefs and was harassed. Islington council said it was "disappointed" and was considering an appeal against the ruling.

Replace the terms and see how "right" it feels.

[tolman]

I trust she'd be happy for anyone who didn't want to be married by a woman, or by anyone non-white, or by a Christian bigot, to have their personal prejudices respected by the council?

[brodski]

Replace the terms and see how "right" it feels.

Yup, still feels right, she was refusing to do her job and should, in my opinion, have been disciplined or at eth very least offered alternative duties, what should not have been allowed to happen was systematic bullying by other staff based on her obnoxious beliefs.

It was the latter circumstance which this tribunal ruled on, although it will have implications relating to the former.

[filippo lippi]

We don't know the nature of the "bullying," it might have been formal disciplinary proceedings; all we really know is that she has refused to officiate at some ceremonies that she thinks her invisible friend won't like and that she feels aggreived at the way she's been treated because of it.

I shall Google to find out more...

[filippo lippi]

More info here

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...cle3972735.ece

but still not a lot.

Sounds to me like special pleading and the law has given in

[tolman]

Giving evidence yesterday, she told the employment tribunal in Central London: “I hold the orthodox Christian view that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life to the exclusion of all others and that this is the God-ordained place for sexual relations. It creates a problem for any Christian if they are expected to do or condone something that they see as sinful."

Unless she vets all prospective partners and refuses to marry anyone who's been divorced or defiled themselves by having sex outside of marriage, it would seem that she's not just a bigot, she's also a hypocrite.
Obviously, it doesn't create an insurmountable problem for her to take money to marry sinners as long as they're not also gay.

Were she actually true to her beliefs, it's hard to see who she might actually *want* to marry, except virgins marrying in church, and most of that rather small number of people would presumably not need the services of a council registrar in the first place.

I thought one fundamental point about non-church weddings was that they are *specifically* non-religious (no vaguely religious music, etc.). To have someone claiming to be religious wanting to personally profit from that 'lucrative' secular action and then wanting to pick and choose which bits fit with their personal bigotry seems more than a bit rich.

Ms Ladele said that her superior had told her that her stance was akin to a registrar refusing to marry a black person.

Which is exactly what it would be, whether or not the registrar claimed to be from a church of racism, or just personally racist. If she can't see that, she must be pretty thick.

To claim to be surprised that people think you're homphobic if you call homosexuality a sin, and to expect other staff to wish to interact with you does show an astonishing ignorance of other people.
If I worked there, I don't think I'd speak to her unless I actually had to for work purposes. She seems like someone I'd have no time for.

I'm not sure management can *require* their staff to like each other, or to interact any more than is necessary for the business, even if that results in someone (with or without a persecution complex) feeling isolated. If most people in a workplace honestly dislike someone, that workplace isn't going to be nice for the person, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily anyone's fault but their own.

[Graham Lappin]

Whilst I don't disagree with the general incredulity expressed here I do wonder whether any of us should really expect such rationality to be applied to politics or the law?

[farmersboy]

Whilst I don't disagree with the general incredulity expressed here I do wonder whether any of us should really expect such rationality to be applied to politics or the law?

Yes - in this day and age, why not?

[seren]

I was fuming at this on the news last night. It's good to come here and fume with others.

[tonysidaway]

I wouldn't want a registrar marrying me who wasn't happy to be there, but religious discrimination? Why stop at homosexuals, will people now try to stop working on Sundays?




http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7499248.stm

I really hope they win this appeal. Civil partnership ceremonies are part of a registrar's duty. Maybe not what she signed up for originally, but now it's the law.