Equalities Bill: Church leaders defeat Government over gay staff

Telegraph ^ | January 26, 2010 | Christopher Hope

[NYer]

Under the current law, religious groups can restrict jobs to believers and refuse to hire people whose private conduct is inconsistent with their teaching.

The Government had been proposing to water down these restrictions in Harriet Harman’s Equality Bill, which was being debated in the House of Lords yesterday.

However, the key amendments to change the law were thrown out by peers in a vote by 216 to 178 in a humiliating defeat for Miss Harman.

Miss Harman can try to force the measure through the Commons – and risk losing the whole Bill because of the short amount of time left in this Parliament.

The other option would be to drop the proposal and leave the UK at odds with an existing EU directive.

Last night secular campaigners said they would be complaining to the European Commission if the measure was dropped.

During a debate in the Lords, Baroness O'Cathain, who led the rebels, said: organisations should be free to choose their staff on whether they share those beliefs.

“How would a rape crisis centre operate if it was forced to employ male counsellors. This is the state trying to tell people who the can and can’t employ.”

She added that a Government minister had already given warning that the plans would lead to legal battles between churches and atheists, insisting that both sides “need to be lining up (their lawyers) by now.”

-- snip --

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservatives’ shadow minister for Community Cohesion, hailed the vote as a “victory for common sense”.

"The Church of England, the Catholic Church and leaders of other faiths have all campaigned together in a true spirit of Community Cohesion to protect an important religious freedom."

[NYer]

Catholic Ping
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[JTHomes]

heh heh, gay staff, heh heh

[Cheesel]

What the &#$(# is a “shadow minister for Community Cohesion”?

[elpadre]

“...at odds with an existing EU directive.”

I suspect the liberals in power in the US have such a “directive” as a future goal here. With the present anti-discrimination laws they are not too far away.

[mrsmel]

The queers hate Christianity, so they want to work for Christians. They must see further lawsuit potential in this, if they were to achieve it.

[GreenLanternCorps]

“What the &#$(# is a “shadow minister for Community Cohesion”?”

The Conservative Party’s spokesman and critic for issues related to the department and the Minister for Community Cohesion.

In a Westminster style Parliamentary system each Cabinet officer has a “Shadow” who’s job is to be the chief critic of that cabinet officer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Cabinet

The most important job of a Shadow Minister or a Shadow Secretary of State is to ask questions in Parliament on matters related to that department during Question Time, the time allotted for the opposition to ask questions which the Government MUST answer.

Imagine for a moment, if Sarah Palin got to ask President Obama questions, every week, for a half hour, on live national television, and the President couldn’t avoid them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_Time