In January 2003 the Croydon Area Gay Society made a submission, to the government as part of the second round of the government's consultation process. It made 11 points, of which 8 concerned 'Religion and Belief' and all concerned sexuality or transsexuality. The submission was published here and members were encouraged to contribute to it while it was being developed.
Click here to see the final version.
---
When the public consultation period was over, further pressure was put the government. Officials admitted to the Scrutiny Committee (the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments) on 3rd June 2003 that this was from 'the churches' or 'a small number of representatives from churches'.
The Scrutiny Committee discovered by questioning (questions 35 to 42 of the uncorrected procedings of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments) that this late pressure was entirely one sided, and that no corresponding representations had been sought from those who would be affected by the changes.
The change of concern is in the Regulations on 'Orientation' number 7(3). This is a duplicate of the original emption, 7(2), where employers may discriminate legitimately against gay people. But the new sub section includes a much wider range of exemptions for employers with a religious ethos. They can even discriminate the grounds of 'suspicion' of an employee's orientation.
The defence of these changes was unconvincing and the Scrutiny Committee in a closed meeting, on 10th June, decided to report that the new Regulations contravened the European Directive 4.1.
The Scrutiny Committee reports to Parliament and both Houses meet to debate the legislation on 17th June - a very compressed timetable! So CAGS has sought the input of other campaigning groups, primarily the Lesbian and Gay Christian movement, and has sent a Briefing Note, shared by many other groups, to our local MPs and to 15 Lords to draw attention to this turn of events. We hope that Parliament will reject the legislation for the legal reason that it contravenes the Directive that the UK signed up to.
At the same time, Lord Lester is proposing a motion in the Lords that the government should withdraw and revise the Regulations to keep them within the law.
These issues seem technical, and have been almost completely ignored in the press. But the result will affect hundreds of thousands of staff in the faith schools that the government is promoting. Arguably any firm claiming a Christian ethos could use these new laws against gay employees, from Halal butchers, Christian bookstores to ordinary hotels and high street stores.
So we are acting now, to avoid funding expensive and difficult legal action against the government in the forthcoming months.
The Regulations were passed by both Houses of Parliament, but not without a speech from a government minister giving the most conservative interpretation of how employers with a religious ethos will hardly be able to use the Regulation 7(3) at all.
How far this intervention is effective is a matter of debate.
There is further action to be taken on this, but having discussed it, the Committee decided that we could not helpfully contribute to it. However it is possible that one or more of the trades unions, with much more financial backing than we have, will challenge the legislation in an action for judicial review.
If you would like to be kept informed, please ask the Chairman, or myself, Roger.
I can be contacted on roger@titipu.demon.co.uk or by mobile on 07880 794645